Is There a Line Between Love and Hate?
by roseknickersss
Summary: Drunken nights lead to foreign behaviors, but they have the ability to leave behind unresolved emotions. Draco and Hermione find themselves in an irreversible situation. After all, once is a mistake, twice is a decision. Lemons/not too OOC/ M for a reason
1. First Night

"My, my, my, what have we here?" a deeply tanned brunette slurred.

He froze at the voice, knowing it all too well and downed his shot before turning around to face her.

"Mr. Malfoy in the muggle world, tsk, tsk."

"Good to see you too, Granger," he replied, icily, sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm sure it is," she sneered back and leaned on the bar for some support.

Wearing these black velvet pumps on a night where she planned to drink so much at a resort in Cancun, a place unknown to her, was not a smart idea. As rarely as these things happen to her, she embraced her stupidity for the only justification she had – she was sick of sitting around doing nothing as her 17th year was coming around and the closest she got to feeling anything from any boy was Ron's kisses, which although cute at first, got old real fast. He seemed to notice her heels too, along with her wild hair, although differently wild this time, darker, and more deliberate. And he noticed her tight dress, and her body, breathing in and steadying his intoxicated body.

"Who knew you went out?" He replied, with a more curious than patronizing tone.

"Well Malfoy darling, I don't sit around in books all the time. Never noticed I'm not around on the weekends at Hogwarts did you? Much less the summer."

"Whatever you say bookworm."

"Like I said, you're the one out in the muggle world, oh pureblood lord," she jabbed.

"Listen, it really is the last place I want to be but it's the only place I can get away from everyone so will you just let. It. Go." He growled.

"Someone's not drunk enough," she replied and walked away laughing, another bottle of _something _in her hand.

Draco just looked after her. The beige dress she wore looked a lot less menacing from the front than it did from the back. It showed a fair amount of cleavage and fit her form, which he had to admit was something he clearly had never given her credit for, quite well, but left her back completely bare till it imprisoned her ass. When he thought imprisoned, it was for a reason.

Hermione walked away, although showing no outward signs of disappointment, very reluctantly. Malfoy was never as attractive to her as he was now. Inside the castle's walls, she was blinded by only seeing him as the arrogant git that he is. When everything is forgotten on nights like these, she can appreciate the precious bleached outgrown hair he's so fond of, the silvery gray eyes that have a deepness to them she never noticed, and got a few shades darker as they looked into her own warm chocolate brown eyes. His lips were very pink against his pale skin and his body was evidently sculpted from his Seeker position on the school's Quidditch team. There was something very regal, very evil and very enticing about him.

She turned around one time to the spot where she left the boy and was almost visibly startled to see he was looking back.

_Ah, Draco isn't used to this Hermione… _She thought.

_Time to use that to my advantage then. _

The clever girl, turned in his direction now, slyly smiled at him, downed her bottle, and stepped onto the dance floor. As the beats penetrated her being and she got into her usual trance, enjoying the moment as is, she closed her eyes and swayed to the rhythm. A pair of hands helped her sway and she welcomed the gesture, pressing her body into her helpers. She recognized his form immediately, and his smell drove her to grind her body into his own.

He had no idea what he was doing, and was acting on instinct as he grabbed the bushy tailed, buck toothed Mudblood's body only to discover she was no longer that girl. She felt better than he expected, and her touch slowly made him forget all things relevant to either of them.

Hermione turned to face her partner, and immediately he pulled her closer, her waist to his, and she ground onto his member, which was more and more excited by the moment.

"Always knew you wanted some Slytherin in you," Draco slurred into her ear.

"Mm, and the enormous Malfoy ego starts talking," the smart brunette retorted, slightly pulling away but not getting too far.

Draco spun her around and pulled her in even closer this time, and his mouth grazed against her lips, and her jawline to her temple and kissed back down. She let out a deep breath, as her eyes began to close, and she returned the general gesture by slipping her hands just under the waistline of his tailored black pants and grinding his bare hips into her own.

"Don't deny it Granger, you want me tonight, just me," he breathed in her ear, but this time there was no pulling away.

Instead she locked his gaze with nothing but an expression of desire and led the way into an empty elevator through the nearest doors. He pushed the button for the last floor.

"Yes Malfoy, but so do you," she said aloud, right before pushing him to the elevator wall and continuing the seducing, which was happening equally animalistic on either side.

His reply was a groan in her mouth as her nimble hands brushed against his straining cock, and satisfied with the boy's reaction, she continued doing so till he returned the favor. Hermione's hands grabbed at his waist, then back and soon hair when Draco's fingers traced the fabric under the dress. The elevator chimed and the doors opened, leaving the two stumbling on the last floor.

But not to be deterred, Draco pressed her against the wall and continued his motions till she moaned, and the louder she was, the more he wanted her.

"Mm, my room, UGH, my room's this way," he managed before Hermione attacked him again.

After a full minute or two of fumbling with his room card and swearing under his breath, Draco managed the door and led a breathless Hermione inside. Once away from the public eye, the brunette ravished the boy with her eyes and kicked off her heels only seconds before he lifted her off the ground and backed her into the door.

Both legs around his waist, she moaned out, "Malfoy, mm, Malfoy I need more."

"Say it again Mudblood, I want to hear you beg for it."

Her reaction was as sly as they get, and she ground her hips into him while drawling out, "Try again Malfoy."

He carried her over to the bed and slammed her down, angrily assaulting her body with rough hands to which she responded with deep moans. The Slytherin then eased up, pulled up her dress and circled her bundle of nerves through the soaking wet lace beige panties. Her tan skin contrasted nicely, making Malfoy realize again, that she wasn't who he thought she was. Bookworm with a tan, that wasn't logical now was it? She yelped and moaned as he sped up with his talented fingers and he smirked at her, the trademark Malfoy smirk.

"Not enough yet?" He grinned.

Hermione writhed underneath his sculpted body and she looked into his pools of silvery grayness, in physical pain from being denied the release her body needed.

"Oh God, Malfoy, please…"

"We're not on a first name basis yet, Hermione?"

As her name rolled of his tongue, he grabbed her panties and pulled them down her thighs and legs, and flung them into a dark corner of the room.

It was useless to say Hermione was hardly fazed by his caresses but she always held her own. She merely caught his eye, her gaze burning into his till his finger's ministrations on her center were becoming too much.

She held in the inevitable moan and he sped up, not being able to get his mind off their current state and his own throbbing member.

"Draco, Draco please, I need you," she moaned out and instantaneously, his finger slit within her slick folds while his other hand held down her thigh.

"That's what I like to hear," he said, slipping in another finger and gaining the satisfying panting he was looking for.

Faster and faster he pumped into her, more and more she panted and she began saying his name over and over again. The beautiful, smart, rebellious, and proud Gryffindor was nothing but a puddle of screams underneath him and his cock twitched with anticipation. He put in another two fingers, stretching her for his size, and she accordingly met his thrusts with her own, throwing her head back in pleasure.

"Hermione, god…" He panted.

His fingers slipped out of her and she moaned at the loss ass he lifted them to his mouth, licking off her juices. He continued applying pressure to her clit with his other hand, as she watched through heavy lids with a lusty gaze underneath him. She lifted herself off the bed and pushed him down, quickly ridding the boy of his unnecessary black button down shirt and pushing it off his shoulders.

As she admired his toned body he grinned, "Like what you see…" and with that Hermione undid his belt and trousers as he lifted up to help her rid him of unnecessary garments.

"Now you're wearing too much," he stated blatantly, yearned to see lots more of her smooth skin that was shining from the moon's light bouncing off it.

On top of her prey, she smiled coyly and stepped off the bed and he groaned at the loss of her skin on his body entirely.

"What are y-" he started, sitting up, but quickly stopped as he watched her sway in front of the bed to the music infiltrating the room from the parties going on around them and unzip her dress, agonizingly slow.

He felt himself moan at the sight of her figure in motion on its own, and fell back on his elbows, never taking his lust filled eyes away from her tantalizing ones. As her dress fell, his cock twitched and she closed her eyes knowingly, and the sides of her mouth turned up in pure pleasure at the thought. Before she could open then, Draco's hands were unhooking her red strapless bra that he threw to the ground, although she looked good enough to eat with or without it. He picked her up, and she wrapped both of her legs around his waist. Both were staring into each other's eyes with something was brimming, ready to explode. He wordlessly pushed her back onto the bed and kneaded both her breasts, before taking the left one in his mouth.

"Ah, Draco, Dra-" she was cut off by a loss of breath as his fully erect member ground into her dripping wet center and she desperately needed more.

"Yes, love?" he whispered seemingly to her left breast, and his cool breath made it harden as he started on the other, then her abdomen and inner thighs.

She was already a moaning mess before he even got to ask, "What is it you need, Hermione?"

She she groaned in response, he ran a finger over her soft spot and her entire back arched.

"Mm, what was that?" he asked again, then returned to sucking dangerously high on her inner thigh.

"Draco, I need _more_ of you, give me _more."_


	2. Compromise?

There really wasn't much, she, Hermione Granger, could do from screaming out in pure ecstasy right now. So she did.

"God," she panted, loudly, "Draco, ohhhhh."

The verbalization of her feelings drove Draco insane, as her hands wove into his hair, pressing his face harder into his core.

"I-I oh God, Malfoy I'm coming," she managed, right as she lost control of all her muscles and her head fell back into the bed.

He lapped up the juices that were flowing down her inner thighs and she dazedly gathered herself enough to prop herself up on her elbows. She reached for him and soon tasted herself on his lips.

Hermione moaned into his mouth and Draco's stamina was slowly fading. He pressed his entire body onto her naked one. She pulled his boxers down, and he promptly ground his erection into her abdomen and down her slick folds.

This time it was he who moaned loudly and she smirked at the reaction she was getting from Draco Malfoy.

He felt the smirk as he kissed her and began grinding her body, mimicking the real thing, faster and more ferociously. He had a streak for violence in the bedroom, she observed.

It wasn't long before his cock twitched, and it was becoming painful to tease the girl underneath him. Hermione's lust filled eyes matched his own, and he was more than ready to take her.

"Draco," she cried, desperately, grabbing his face and making him look at her, "fuck me."

Draco wasn't one to be told twice and he did. He filled her with him.

She gasped at the new found contact, her eyes never leaving him. They were both panting, and he patiently waited for her signal to move. He was bigger than most, and it was evident by her pained expression he was her biggest.

Soon her hips started struggling against his, and he began to move in and out.

"Faster, for the love of God, this is torture," she gasped and he obliged.

"You like it fast and hard, don't you," he panted.

"So what if I do?" she managed back.

"Mudbloods like it just the way whores do."

"Guess so, now FASTER," she answered defiantly, her voice climbing dangerously high on the last note.

Draco felt her clenching around him, knew she was close, and pounded into her at an animalistic pace, still holding her gaze.

Her eyes shut and she arched into him, off the bed, grasping for her orgasm.

"Look at me," Draco commanded and she did.

The minute he saw her eyes, with a renewed fire in them, he bent to suck on a particular spot in her neck that he discovered made her moan. As her breath became quick moans, he bit into her neck and she came.

He watched her silent scream and emptied into her immediately after, finding this side of Hermione sexy to the point of perversion.

All he wanted to do was pound into her and watch that face.

Instead, exhausted he collapsed onto her chest and they both tried catching their breath.

The music outside was still playing, fighting it's way into the room through closed doors and windows, leaving them in their own orb.

The next morning was predictable. Hermione awoke first, to find a passed out Draco Malfoy on her and immediately her breath caught.

"Shit," she adequately stated, and he stirred to the sound of her voice.

It took him a minute as well but by the look on his face, he came to the same conclusion.

She decided to take the lead on this one, since she very well knew if was her look that made him follow her out onto the dance floor.

"It appears alcohol has lowered my inhibitions," she stated, sitting up and covering herself to the chin with the generic white bedsheets.

"It appears?" he screeched back, sitting on the bed, his back to her, pulling on his boxers.

Hermione's jaw set. "Malfoy, you were there too, I'm not the only one to blame here."

He stood and faced her at this, one hand massaging the back of his neck. She unconsciously trailed her eyes at his toned chest, that had a bit of a golden tinge due to the sun in Cancun. She watched his muscles ripple as his arm smoothed over his neck and she gulped back her need to feel them.

_God fucking damn- _

"I wasn't prepared to find that body under your robes, Granger," he spat at her.

"Excuse me for being healthy?" she scoffed, and rose, naked, from the bed to step into the shower.

"You're being childish," she added, watching his demeanor flash with confusion.

"I'm taking a shower, for I see no reason not to bake in the sun till I'm crisp. You can either join me since I'm here alone, or sulk the day out because you slept with a Mudblood. The wars' over Malfoy, get over it all."

It was true. This was the summer in between her sixth and seventh year. Dumbledore had told Harry, Ron and herself everything a year before Snape was forced to kill him and hunting down horcruxes was faster and more efficient with his information and actual knowledge on what they were doing. It was May when the war erupted, at Hogwarts, and although they suffered terrible losses, such as Dumbledore, Fred Weasley, Tonks and Lupin, among others, Voldemort was defeated.

The after effects of war consisted of grievances and acceptance. The Houses were much more unified, with the exception of some older Slytherins that kept to themselves, Malfoy included. His father had earned himself a life sentence in jail, meanwhile Narcissa was found not guilty, thanks to Harry's testimony in her keeping him alive.

Everyone was adjusting to the after effects. Hermione had hurried off to find her parents and brought them to a Healer to restore their full memories rather than doing it herself and risking any damage. They lived happily in London as they had before, and she visited them whenever she could.

Over past six years, Hermione had balanced saving the world and keeping up her spectacular grades. Whether she was saving the world knowingly, which was more recent, or unknowingly, when she was much younger, she had put aside lots of time to doing just that. Now that the war was over, she found a lot of extra time after completing all her coursework, extracurricular work, excessive studying and even volunteering to help various professors. She'd just learnt to deal with everything speedily and efficiently.

Rebellion was a force that flowed through her however. Ever since her fifth year, rule breaking was an adrenaline rush instead of a forbidden concept. This streak now had time to flourish outside of beating the bad guys, and instead she found she was quite the free spirit.

Only outside the walls of her classrooms, however.

This summer had been an adventure. It was amazing, being able to apparate and conjure up a bracelet that ensured her an all-inclusive stay in plenty of tropical resorts or countries foreign to her.

She was wealthy as is, and whenever she decided to stay on her own, she was able to sustain herself. Hermione reasoned that after all the work and stress of Hogwarts, she was allowed a summer of freedom.

In actuality, her parents made sure to keep her away from books, Ginny wouldn't let her grieve since that was her own way of grieving over her brother, and Hermione was in no mood to watch the endless couples around her.

Harry and Ginny had been expected. Isobel actually falling for Ron had been less expected. Luna and Neville seemed quite the catastrophic but unbearably cute couple. Yet, to Hermione, they were the least expected. With Neville's stutter in uncomfortable situations and Luna's strangeness in every situation, it was unlikely either would be able to convey feelings. But they had.

Hermione felt oddly betrayed by the fact they were a couple, and then Cormac stepped him, taking her to the end of the year festivities and inevitably ending up in her bedroom.

His crush was well harbored on her since the Yule Ball, as was a lot of other boys'. She'd quickly learned she was no longer considered a bookworm, contrary to the fact all she really ever did was read. Apparently, the Yule Ball was an eye opener and it earned her some social cred.

Still, she stuck to her principles and after one roll in the hay with Cormac, she ended it. There were no mystical butterflies or genuine smiles with him, and she was never one to fake that.

Over the summer, from country to country and island to island, she'd met dozens of boys, but only select few even managed to get a base more than a kiss.

She might be exploring this side of her, but there was no one to cut the seal on her wild side.

_Until last night_, she thought.

Lost in thought in the shower, as always, she noticed everything had steamed up and she was done actually showering and now just standing there.

She dried off and entered her room yet again, to discover Draco patiently waiting for the shower.

"I like Muggle alcohol. I think you'll have to order me a good, uh, cocktail? Yes, they're cocktails. You'll have to order me a good cocktail at breakfast."

And with that, he disappeared into the bathroom.

Hermione smiled to herself, magically dried herself, performed her personal hair spell to ensure it was in wild ringlets not in a wild frizzfest, and sauntered over to her suitcase to find her black bikini.


	3. Skinny Dipping

**I own nothing. Sadly. **

**And the story unfolds… dun, dun, dun. I know I promised characters that were much like JK Rowling's, not very different, but I'm trying to explain the few changes as best I can, as you may have noticed in the previous chapter. I will update quickly and as fast as possible, but it's all up to your responses ultimately. **

As soon as he stepped into the steaming shower, Draco promptly allowed himself a generous wank.

_Fuck you Granger, _was his only thought.

Fuck her for completely unknowingly taunting him with her naked ass. Where was she hiding those hips? Of course, when your daily wear are a set of robes that billow out around you as you walk, there is a lot hidden. But honestly? How had he missed those?

Fuck her for them emerging from the blasted bathroom, with her dripping hair sticking to her face, her cheeks flushed just like they were last night and that make shift towel dress rising high on her creamy thigh.

He knew it was normally paler and guessed she had been a guest at this particular hotel for quite a while since there was color evident on her body. No particular tan lines except where you would find a thong, and the thought angered him for some reason.

Was Granger really parading herself around nude on these beaches? That was so unlike the girl he knew, whose nose was always, always, always in a book and not just any book, usually a 1000 page textbook.

Fuck her from eliciting that silent groan from him, as he sat on his own bed. He'd been waiting for the shower, meaning to shove past her and then continue his vacation elsewhere, but the way his eyes found themselves glued to her dripping, rosy body, he found he wanted more.

She'd suggested tanning before, hadn't she? Why the HELL would he give up a chance to see a barely clad, sweating Granger lying beside him? That's just crazy talk. So he immediately turned to alcohol as his savior, since it had caused this whole mess.

Quickly finishing his shower, Draco magicked himself dry and didn't bother fixing his hair. He was on vacation after all, no image to uphold in the middle of the Muggle world. He Accio'd some swim trunks and a matching black t-shirt from his room and emerged the bathroom while still tugging down that shirt.

The tiny gasp from Granger made him smirk discreetly, glad his exposed abdomen had such an affect on her, even from a distance.

"Where to for breakfast?" he asked. He figured she knew the place better than him, undoubtedly being here longer again judging by the color of her skin.

"The buffet I guess. I've only been here 3 days," she replied and it shook his ego a bit that he hadn't figured her out completely as he was so sure he had.

Malfoys were never wrong.

Oh but so clearly, they were. He'd gotten to see just how many mistakes a Malfoy could make in the past year. Being on the Dark Lords' side was strike one. His father landing in jail was strike two. His mother pleading her innocence with Potter's help was the last blow.

Malfoys needed help from people like Potter. What was the world coming to?

Draco and his affiliation with the Dark Lord was entirely thanks to his parents and nothing more. He was raised to be prejudiced, but not evil. When everything became a cold hard reality at the end of his fourth year, he could only shakily gulp down his fears.

The Dark Lord had grotesquely returned in the flesh and the Malfoys were not only to serve him, but were indebted to him.

Hence, a 14 year old boy became the liason between his father in Azkaban and the Dark Lord. There were no tasks involved until 2 years later, with the vanishing cabinet. But still, his connection to the dark side was beginning to dawn on him.

As it became evident he was going to have to actually act out deeds for the Dark Lord, everything began to take a toll on him. His priorities were weighed. School or his life? Friends or his life? Money or his life? Health or survival?

Everything was easily taken from him, withdrawing him from the regular world. Tormenting even the golden trio was no longer a past time; crying and confiding in Snape were new habits.

Dumbledore figured out a neat way to keep everyone safe, as he always did. Loads were lifted off of Draco's shoulder as the war actually happened and ended.

The Dark Mark began to fade, there was never as much for it as he had anticipated. Things became more normal for him and his mother that summer. But you can't keep a teenage boy cooped up with that much stress and torment behind him. He decided to take refuge in Mexico, at Blaise's suggestion. 'The Muggle world has its fucking sweet spots' Blaise had said.

And here he was, going to a buffet with Granger. It was vacation wasn't it? He knew they were both exhausted from the real world so he didn't have it in him to care that tolerating her was usually as fun as practicing a patronus, something so draining and impossible when you've been under the influence of dark magic for so long with as many dark memories to keep you company. Being nice to her was natural right now, but with the sun shining so brightly and everyone's burnt smiling faces around him, he couldn't imagine it any other way.

"You seem to have a liking towards that lovely grave color," Hermione noted, sipping on her early morning Strawberry Daiquri laced with rum.

"You don't seem to have issues with it either," Draco replied, motioning to her black bikini hidden under a coral racerback sundress that hit her mid thighs deliciously.

"I still have loads less black on than you," she commented, tucking a curl behind her ear. Her chocolate tresses were loose and wild, besides the aviator glasses holding a few strands out of her fresh face.

Draco noticed she didn't need make up to enhance her features. Her amber eyes were big, fiery. Her skin was creamy and well kept; no blemishes were visible to him. Her nose was tiny and straight, with a few stray freckles. Her aforementioned lips were naturally rosy and plump, but there was a sheer layer of balm on them. He longed to reach over the table and taste the flavor of the balm while-

Okay. Now things were getting ahead of themselves.

"I don't know if you noticed, but bikinis require much less material than everything I'm wearing. So yes Granger, I have a lot more black on."

She stiffened a little at his calling her Granger, but smiled brightly after. Puzzling girl.

"Time to go then?" She looked at both empty plates and glasses, then at him.

"Guess so," he grumbled, standing.

"Oi, what a grumpy pants," she breathed, walking out of the outdoor buffet ahead of him.

"What?" he asked, genuinely missing her comment as her voice got lost ahead of him.

"Nothing Malfoy, time to skinny dip."

"What?"

She only laughed and they both remained silent for the remainder of their walk to the shore, finding a pair of empty beach chairs to strip their clothes on and renting towels on the way.

He was quietly confused and she was taking the lead for once.

"There ARE kids around and you ARE going insane," Malfoy stated, walking out of the water next to a flushed Granger.

Slowly and surely, he mentally added to his former statement.

Why was she always so pink in the face? Her hair was once again wetly sticking to her face but this time he had a much clearer view of her wet body. The bikini did nothing to cover her toned body, and the water dripping everywhere was tempting him to lick. It was enraging his animal instincts to throw her down in the sand and have his way with her. But, as he had just mentioned to his great chagrin, there were children around.

And Malfoys didn't lose control.

When they were both deep enough, Granger charmed both of their clothes invisible and they splashed around and rode the salty waves like giddy children. They both laughed at the fat middle-aged Russian man only a few yards away who was oblivious to their nakedness and exchanged looks when a family with young children had spotted them, thankfully also from yards away. Adrenaline rush aside, it was actually fun. Freeing was the word Draco would use.

Just before they decided to get out, Granger rendered their clothes visible again and they were still laughing as they climbed out.

"Don't get your boxers in a twist. It's not like they saw anything," she mocked him.

He had to hand it to her. He didn't know this side of her at all.

They made it back to their chairs and baked till they were dry. Afterwards, they played a few card games that were abnormally competitive due to two their stubborn nature.

Before long, the sun began to set and they were racing back to their hotel rooms, playing tag.

Both faces were flushed by the time they welcomed air conditioning in the elevator and the laughter abruptly stopped as they simultaneously flew into each others' arms and devoured each others faces.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I already have the next few chapters written, I'm just editing and reviewing them. The sooner I get reviews, the sooner you get a continuation. **

**I know Hermione is out of character for now, but as I tried to explain in the previous chapter, she's away from Hogwarts, on vacation, and at the urging of many people she loves, away from books. The stress of the past few years needs to be recouped somehow, right? **

**Draco seems a lot more lost than usual also, his snarky comments and dark behavior are definitely missed BUT his father is in jail, his mother was barely saved from the same fate, and the Malfoys were for the first time ever, caught doing the downright wrong thing. If that isn't a blow to his ego and character, I don't know what is. But, then again, he may just need some time to recoup, eh? **

**You'll have to find out and see what happens.**


	4. Unforeseen Behaviors

**Hey guys! I'm updating nice and fast to begin with, but it'll depend on the reviews from now on. I know you're reading it, so why not give an opinion and possibly impact the story? I don't know where it's going yet, I just have a good feeling about it. So R E V I E W and ENJOY! **

Seven was fast approaching and dinner would be over in an hour. Therefore, Hermione was Accioing her maroon mini dress from her room down the hall and Draco was straightening his usual morbid outfit. Black shirt, black pants, black shoes.

It was like he was grieving something but what? The Malfoy prominence in the wizarding world?

Regardless of his formal attire, his hair was still undone. Hermione was partial to his platinum shaggy hair being in a disarray though, as it was her who left it that was while grasping anything she could as he took her roughly up against his shower wall merely a few minutes ago.

She slipped into the tight strapless cutout dress and then magicked some lingerie underneath. Malfoy would get to see that later, she mused.

Her hair was charmed again, but this time she applied some make up. Heavy mascara outlined her bright eyes, blush stained her already red cheeks and the sheer balm was on again.

Malfoy loved the sheer balm. It was there but it wasn't. It made her plump lips shine and catch his attention, it made them look edible.

"Japanese or Italian cuisine?" Hermione asked, putting on a dangling diamond earring as her only piece of jewelry for the night.

Normally she had her worn watch and grandmother's necklace, but normally didn't cut it for this vacation. She did notice the serpent ring that never left Malfoy's ring finger though.

"Japanese. I've actually never had that before?" Malfoy answered.

"Ah, the great Malfoy hasn't had asian food before?" Hermione taunted, clucking her tongue.

He ignored her, grabbed his room card and headed for the door.

"What? Malfoy enterprises doesn't have connections in the east?" she continued.

The only way they weren't both at each others' necks was when they ignored the jabs and insults they both insisted on continuing to throw around. Earlier he had fought her on the as did she but that turned into a ridiculous sand fight. Sand in his eyes wasn't a favorite past time but Granger concernedly checking on his eye and hovering over him was a sight.

Maybe only because he was vividly imagining fucking her in public places.

Anyway, the longer they kept the peace, the more he got to explore her body.

Little did he know, the same self-absorbed thought was going around poking itself in Hermione's brain.

..

..

..

..

..

Dinner had been delectable, and Hermione's laughter was ringing in Draco's ears. Her mirth at his surprise and entertainment for their fantastic chef was genuine and tinkling.

Hermione kept looking over at Draco over her 3rd glass of red wine. In the dimly lit restaurant, his cheeks were glowing, his steel eyes were shining and his pale lips made her shiver with memories of what they did to her with just a kiss. She trailed her eyes down his neck to his arms, and he'd rolled up his black button down to his bicep, which was nicely shaped. When she caught his eyes, they danced and his lips curled up. She felt her own mirroring the action despite the lack of her brain telling them to.

It was a talkative dinner after a talkative day. They spoke about their drastically different childhoods, their families, their hobbies, sports, friends, anything. Eventually, conversations turned into debates and Hermione found herself an equal sparring partner. Little did they know, their views on everything were close to opposite and it left loads of ground to cover when arguing over it.

Hermione liked to follow the rules; Draco didn't acknowledge them. Hermione believed in doing her work, studying extra and helping other; Draco had his cronies do his school work and knocked younger kids out of his way. Hermione had likes and dislikes; Draco had favorites and was very specific. Both of them agreed that children were the most annoying things on the planet as soon as they learned to speak and that God was just another myth someone had taken too seriously. Other than those two things, they agreed on nothing.

Other than the fact that sleeping together was taking the edge off every problem and memory either of them had.

"So, Japanese tomorrow," Draco stated.

"Fine by me, I could go for some more grilled salmon right now."

"You're still not sated?" Draco asked, incredulous.

"I have a never-ending appetite, what can I say?" she replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"One would never guess by the size of your tiny frame."

"Maybe."

"But you appetite makes sense," he added, after a while.

"What do you mean?" she said, looking up at him as they entered the elevator upstairs.

"I mean," he said, stepping closer to her, "that you're always hungry for more, in the bed and out of it, too."

"Clever, clever Mr. Malfoy, tell me more. I want to know what's going through your mind," Hermione purred, her hands holding his face. She was pulling him closer with her eyes, and he rested his hands on her forearms.

"Do you really?" he asked.

She nodded and he rested his forehead against hers, waiting for the bell to ring and signal their arrival on the top floor.

"The only thing that's on my mind right now, is the face you made in the shower, right before I fell to my knees."

She took what he said into consideration, cocking her head to the side and giggling due to her tipsiness.

It was a good thing to think about. He'd made her gasp out and moan just by rubbing himself against her, naked. He couldn't take much more and knelt to press his face against her dripping center.

If only he saw my face while his tongue was demonstrating what his cock would do to me later. She smiled at the thought and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"That makes you smile?" he breathed heavily down on her and she shivered.

"I'm just… thinking of something."

"Oh?"

The elevator dinged and he led her to his room for the night.

"Well now I'm more than curious as to what's on your mind," he said, as they stepped through the door.

"Sit," she said, motioning to the bed.

Hermione ran into the bathroom, stripped out of her dress, teased her hair hurriedly and reapplied some mascara from her purse.

She took one long last look at herself in the mirror, and smiled.

The black velvet platform heels were an extra.

She stepped out and saw Malfoy sitting shirtless, cradling his head in his hands. He looked up and immediately groaned, grabbing the bed sheets around him.

"Christ, next time you smile like I know that I'll look forward to whatever it is that's on your mind," he told her.

She smiled her sly smile again and he just kept staring.

The girl's hair formed a halo around her and the way the light from the bathroom behind her hit her body, she looked like a goddess. She donned a black lacy bra from which her breasts were overflowing and had matching boy short lace panties to match. She twirled in her heels and her bouncy ass caught his eye, just before he saw her long legs and then focused on her breasts again. He couldn't decide where to look when she walked towards him and found himself unable to look away from those shiny, naughty, deep brown eyes.

**A/N: Hehe, this isn't the Hermione you know at all. But are you the same person under the influence? I know I can barely keep my head on straight, but Hermione finds better uses for her drunkenness. Review to see what happens when they both go back to Hogwarts! **


	5. Hogwarts, Year Seven

**Okay, I'm being really generous right now with the updates, but it's only because I already had these chapters finished. Let me know if you find any mistakes, I read over my own work but it's always difficult to proofread when you've subconsciously convinced yourself it's all correct. ENJOY! (: **

It was only a week and a half later when their stay in Cancun was rudely terminated by the arrival of the last day of August. Tomorrow, their trunks for their concluding stay at Hogwarts were to be packed. Without much of a goodbye, both headed to their homes after a nearly silent but comfortable breakfast together.

Hermione efficiently packed all her previously bought schoolbooks and materials on the left side of her trunk and shrunk her clothes and other essentials to fit in the right half. She hugged both parents tightly before crossing over to the wizarding world at King's Cross Station and found her usual cart occupied by Harry, Ron and Ginny.

Ron was unhappily watching his best friend and sister holding hands and sitting at a frightful proximity in his opinion and decidedly brightened at the sight of Hermione.

"'Mione! Where have you been this summer?" he greeted her

"Yeah, don't ever disappear on us like that again," added Harry, also smiling brightly at her.

"Nice tan 'Mione, how was everything?" asked Ginny, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

Well, she was informed of Hermione's roaming the world but not much else. CERTAINLY not about Malfoy. That piece of damning information was for Hermione's knowledge only. And Draco's. Although, now, under the careful scrutinizing she knew she was getting from Harry and Ron, she wished she's thought to erase Malfoy's memory. She was so talented with memory charms.

Ginny's face was also holding a familiar demeanor, which Hermione knew well. It meant she was expecting a full report later and was more than willing to spill about her own summer.

As much as I'm willing to hear about her fucking one of my best friends... Hermione thought wryly.

She approved of Harry and Ginny. But Ginny was like a younger sister and Harry was like a brother. It was all still so weird and new to her.

Come to think of it, Hermione didn't associate with girls much at all, so everything they did normally was odd to her. She didn't like girls her age and much less younger. Not a fan of children, she wasn't. It was odd to have found a genuine friend in Ginny, although the motherly qualities she possessed explained it.

"I missed you all too," Hermione said, noncommittally taking a seat but was soon bombarded with questions and quickly explained her travels, leaving out everything else, silently begging for the Breakfast Cart's interruption.

As if on queue, it arrived and she thanked God and Merlin both.

Happily chewing over food, a friendly conversation ensued all the way through to Hogwarts.

It was late as usual when they arrived and the greeting ceremony administered by McGonagall, who had taken over as Headmaster, seemed to be lulling Hermione to sleep.

However, as the food began appearing, all tired thoughts were put aside and she dug into her steak and potatoes, allowing herself some pumpkin pie for dessert. Ron allowed himself the whole table as usual while Ginny nearly starved.

That girl was much too concerned with her weight.

Hmm, maybe I'll drive the dawning conversation with Ginny towards her health habits instead of my summer.

It was an appealing thought in any matter.

As she entered her familiar dormitory and was about to change into her pajamas, her eyes fell on a letter that was propped up on her desk

Why would McGonagall be summoning me to her office at this hour? She wondered.

Soon, she was settled uncomfortably in a chair next to Malfoy in the Headmaster's office.

"As you both no doubt are aware, Head Boy and Girl are troubled with many responsibilities. But, they do not go unnoticed and are a great feeling of loyalty towards your great school, Hogwarts. Also, these positions are highly honored and cherished, awarded to only those students who deserve them. Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, you are certainly both aware you are top of your class. However, the bravery and exhibitions of admirable decision making both of you displayed over the past year and most of all, at the time they were needed most, the war, proves you are overqualified for the job. I am pleased to inform you of your positions." Professor McGonagall spoke, a tight smile on her face. She observed them both.

"As Head Boy and Girl, you have your own dormitories, complete with a common room. You will find the decor of both rooms fitting and the common room a compromise. Tomorrow night there will be a meeting in regards to your duties, precisely at 8, after the Prefect meeting. Is everything understood?"

Both of them knew about the dorms, nodded about the meeting and were excused after the Professor told them all their things were moved to their new rooms. They walked in silence to their portrait hole and headed straight for their rooms.

Hermione was back in her scarlet and gold trimmed robes while Draco had on a green tie.

The next morning after breakfast, Hermione was rushing towards her advanced History class with Ron and Harry in tow. They all decided to take it. If they saved the world they might as well know its history right?

She knocked straight into Malfoy and nearly fell back if Harry hadn't propped her up in the knick of time.

"Watch it Mudblood," he sneered, straightening his robes.

"Oh sod off Malfoy. Your knickers in a twist?"

The familiar expression, albeit amended to get a rise out of him, sparked an unnecessary emotion in him as his soft grey eyes met hers. The look exchanged welcomed back the butterflies in her stomach.

Both hurried off before anything troublesome could occur.

Hermione was a good person. She had morals and loved being acknowledged for following the rules. So why was it she wanted to MURDER the butterflies within her?

She had no time pursuing the thought for as soon as she took her seat in History, now barely early, she took out her summer assignment and read over it AGAIN scouting for errors before she had to turn it in.

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It really only took one day for Hermione to adjust to her packed seventh year schedule. It was to her half chagrin, half pleasant surprise that Draco was in all but one of her classes.

She felt like she was walking on eggshells as she muttered the password "Dumbledore" to the portrait hole. She poked her head in and sighed realizing she had been holding her breath.

She wasn't altogether surprised that Draco's attitude towards her in school remained the same. His act was stellar.

She knew from the moment their silent breakfast ended. She knew what he would've said to fill the silence and undoubtedly he'd be explaining himself for this behavior. But he thought it better to just go on without a word.

Oh well, she thought. This wasn't meant to blossom or last.

She looked up to Draco's closed door and plopped down on the worn black leather couch in the center of the room, concluding he was already asleep.

Knowing him, in retrospect, that was a stupid assessment.

Hermione spread out her assignments for the night and took another look at the notes on Head Girl duties she made during the meeting with Professor McGonagall. She and Draco had late night shifts on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The rest of the week's late shifts were divided between them and the Prefects had all the earlier ones. They were in charge of all student body related activities and represented their peers. But on the up side, they had leniency in many rules, later curfews, more trips out of the castle than other seventh years, etc.

She put that aside and dove into her assignments. Two hours later, at 11, she had completed her work and was about to step out for her night shift when Draco stumbled through the portrait hole, in a state of complete disarray.

"Malfoy, I thought you were sleeping!" she said, appalled at his appearance.

"Yes Mudblood, good Draco has an early bedtime," he sneered, and walked past her to his room.

Without turning to face him, she shrilly spoke her mind, "Malfoy, call me a Mudblood one more time, and I swear to you, your family jewels will be painfully removed when you're least expecting it."

He stopped stomping up the stairs long enough to see her disappearing out of the room and continued up to his room.

If Astoria hadn't reminded him yesterday, he wouldn't even have remembered she was his girlfriend. Before, the green eyes brunette seemed like a perfect contestant to be the nee Malfoy heir. Right now, her breasts seemed overly large, she seemed too skinny, and her large green eyes reminded him of a bug. She was so girly, always made up and color coordinated, which made her seem all the more plastic to him. Her slightly nasal voice wasn't appealing anymore, but this may be because he had another, more superior competitor to compare her too. Hermione's fresh face and wild hair gave her an edge over Astoria. They both wore the same uniforms, but Hermione's were shrunken and fitted to her body, exposing it to everyone around her. Hermione's voice was effortless and gentle, other than when she was screaming at him which happened a lot. But when she was, her cheeks became rosy and his own blood was rushing to places it shouldn't. Hermione wasn't after money or publicity in any way, she wasn't something he was used to and she wasn't shallow. Astoria was smart, clever and quick, but she used her brains to be a conniving bitch which he could never picture Hermione doing.

He shook the comparison out of his head as he lay on his king sized bed and tried to think of something other than rosy cheeks till he fell into a deep slumber.

**A/N: Now make a prediction: Will both of their characters spiral to how they were before or remain changed? **

**Preview: **

**She looked right back at him, the way he stared at her. Draco stared at the exchange, and did everything he could to make himself blurt out some excuse about feeling ill and run out, before seeing nothing but them two, tangled in the sheets and her love face, just the way he made her contort it. **


	6. Lucas Cynric

**If as many of you that were favoriting this story or putting it on an alert reviewed it, I'd honestly be walking around with a neverending smile on my face. Regardless, thanks for the attention! Enjoy! **

Passing her in the hallway earlier Draco almost wanted to smile. But he was with Blaise and Theo, he couldn't let them down. So instead, he rudely insulted her and gained himself an enraged glare.

It amazed him how no hurt flickered in her eyes. He would have guessed it would. She slept with the enemy and now he was back. Wasn't that enough of an emotional rollercoaster to break her down?

Later on their own, private common room he had to insult her again. Rudely. It was a habit that was hard to break. It had been so easy on vacation to pretend this world didn't exist but now, back within the castle's walls, he became Malfoy again.

Then there was the Astoria problem. She was a good idea to begin with and was becoming a liability. Slytherin girls wanted the Malfoy name, not Draco. Still, having a girlfriend kept the rest of the girls away. Only now, it procured a problem.

The cheating didn't matter to him as much as he knew it would bother goody two shoes Granger. He was sure she hadn't remembered Astoria's existence anymore than him and once she found out she was sure to be raving mad.

The solution to this problem was also a complicated one. He couldn't very well break it off without explanation. He couldn't see himself faking it any longer either.

This was a good time to congratulate himself on his lack of ever showing emotion.

His mind drifted to amber eyes turning deep chocolate simultaneously with flushing cheeks and he rolled over, grunting at his newfound arousal.

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Hermione walked back into the common room late that night. Wandering the building for two hours gives one loads of time to think things over.

She wasn't about to put up with Malfoy's antics, but she was understanding. She was willing to let that stunt in the hallway go so they could discuss this in private. But once he'd snapped at her in _their _common room, she grilled him right back. The minute she did so, all her anger and emotion from before summer flooded back.

The first hour of patrol was filled with fast paced, anger driven stride. The next hour was spent casually strolling, sometimes getting lost looking at the moon, the stars and the sky from some of the school's many alcoves.

Her admiration at the sky lasted until her eyes landed on Draco's compilation and she immediately began her fast stride, robes billowing behind her. He made her so mad and she hated it even got to her.

Hermione tried to change to become a mellower, more likeable and laid back person. Saving the world made one want to try something new. But this she couldn't just _let go. _

Instead of blowing up, however, she decided to merely ignore it.

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"Hello class, my name is Professor Lucas Cynric. But you can all call me Cynric. As you may have been informed, your Professor Septima Vector has had her child and decided to take the rest of the year as an unplanned sabbatical. I shall take over the class from here. There shouldn't be too much accommodation needed seeing as it's only a week into the school year. Any questions?"

Hermione's hand shot up. She couldn't help it.

"Professor, will the class still predominantly consist of lectures?"

"Yes Miss..?"

"Granger, sir."

The bloke's face lit up.

"Ah, Granger. You've achieved a lifetime of knowledge to be proud of in your short 16 years." He looked breathless for a bit as he looked down at her. "It's a shame Mr. Potter isn't in this class."

"Harry actually hasn't returned to Hogwarts for school. He's training to be an Auror."

"Ah, a great one he shall be," predicted Professor Cynric.

"He will certainly try. He does visit often however. Harry was here just last week to help us all move in."

"So I might have the honor of meeting him!" the Professor said excitedly but seemed to snap back to reality when a student in the back coughed. "No matter, I'm sure you'll fins Advanced Arithmancy the same with or without Professor Vector," he said brightly.

The introductions began and flowed into a lecture nicely as Hermione rushed to scribble down notes. Her hand was always in the air to ask questions or answer them and 'Cynric' seemed beside himself with happiness.

No doubt he had never seen someone so enthusiastic about Arithmancy. It's hard to be excited about math.

The two-hour class was near ending when Cynric gave everyone some free time to start their homework. It took him 5 seconds to walk over to Hermione's desk and engage in what seemed like a giddy conversation.

Lucas Cynric was very young, 23 at most. Clearly he was straight out of his wizarding university and new to teaching; lucky to enthusiastically grab a spot as a Hogwarts professor. He had striking features, green eyes and short light brown hair. His body was young; toned. He opted to wear black slacks and a deep blue button down instead of dress robes; another sign of his young age. To Draco, it was a sign of his muddled blood status whether he was half-blood or worse.

But that stopped mattering when he looked up again to watch Hermione and the professor. The happy conversation seemed to turn secretive and their faces were much closer together. He seemed to eat her up with his eyes. They kept twinkling at her till he winked when he thought no one was looking and her face brightened, stifling what seemed like a giggle. Then he said something and went back to staring at her like she was a piece of meat. She looked right back at him, the way he stared at her. Draco stared at the exchange, and did everything he could to make himself blurt out some excuse about feeling ill and run out, before seeing nothing but them two, tangled in the sheets and her love face, just the way he made her contort it.

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Hermione had returned to her common room to eat lunch. She figured filling her time with extra studying instead of socializing was more productive and since she could, why not?

The common room had a small kitchenette on the side and a personal house elf appeared if you called for it. She'd rather make her own food any day than ask a poor house elf to go out of its way and make her some though, so soon there was a sweet smell emerging from the oven.

Maybe she went a little overboard for lunch. She made a chocolate cake and iced it with French vanilla frosting, her favorite. She never really understood people's obsession with chocolate. The only time it truly appealed to her was in syrup form, or hot fudge for that matter. Hermione grinned as she took her first bite of cake, remembering plenty of other times she went overboard on cooking.

It all started when she made perfect crepes one day, from an online recipe waiting for her mom to come home. The next day she tried blueberry pie and it spiraled from there. Baking, cooking, grilling - you name it, Hermione was a natural. Cooking wasn't really a skill used in the wizarding world anymore but she took pride in it. If there was anyone who loved being Muggle born it was Hermione and this was her pride and joy of Muggle culture. She was lapping up her second slice when Draco sauntered down the stairs from his room.

"Granger cooks?" he said smoothly.

"Not for you."

He smirked at that and took a seat at the table, taking a slice anyway.

"Why is it that when I think you're in your room you're not but when I don't you are?" she said, absentmindedly licking the frosting off her spoon.

"Pea brain?" he answered, sneering but that stopped when his eyes spotted her tiny pink tongue licking white frosting off a surface. He could easily manipulate this scene into her licking his own member in his mind. He instead tried very hard to think of his dead house elf Dobby, whom he appreciated despite his parents' abuse, and how wrinkly the thing's skin was.

"Insulting my intellect Malfoy? Now that is an entirely new concept for you to begin," she drawled easily, never noticing his stare and silently seething as he finished up her slice of cake.

Just like him to help himself to something that wasn't his.

"I can't exactly insult your frumpy Mudblood body anymore, can I? Some say you have to see it to believe it but I have and it's nothing ...frumpy," Malfoy stated, quietly watching the expressions on her face. She seemed to settle for the angry one.

"Keep that image sacred. You're not getting updates."

"Is that so? Gonna keep your knickers on for once?" he replied hotly, standing so quickly his chair almost toppled over.

"Excuse me? For once? Oh now the Mudblood gets around does she?" Hermione retaliated, also standing up and rounding the corner of the table so she could jab a finger at Draco's chest.

"You were no virgin to begin with," he said quietly, his normally emotion free grey eyes as blazing as hers, grabbing her wrist away from his chest. "No, you knew your way around," he added.

Hermione raised a single perfect eyebrow and ground her teeth dispute being taught for years never to do so by her dentist parents. "I think you're simply having issues believing that _this_ Mudblood had the opportunity to not be a virgin. Someone got to me before you did. That fact is causing problems in your head isn't it? Holes in the Malfoy logic?"

This time Draco took a step closer and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "Don't bring my family into this."

"Why not? Everytime I'm called a Mudblood you bring my entire bloodline into it," she smirked back, shrugging him off her shoulders. She was treading on dangerous Malfoy nerves but she didn't know it yet.

He was about to say much more back, grab her tighter and shake her harder but before his eyes could see red, they both paused to breathe.

It was then that he noticed the freckles on her nose again. Her cheeks were just as flushed as always, indifferent to whether it was anger or pleasure.

Her eyes opened wider as she noticed Malfoy falter. She noticed it only because his eyes cleared up and she was looking into deep oceans of grey instead of a slate of steel. Color rose in his throat and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

Neither of them had backed away and they were uncomfortably close. Their features softened from threatening to needing and neither knew whether the other felt the same urge to release the energy their fight had channeled in an unorthodox way onto each other.

Hermione's mind led her up the stairs while Draco's settled against the wall. Neither acted on their thoughts however, as Draco turned on his heel and walked out of the common room altogether.

Hermione allowed herself a shaky breath before she made fists on either side of her body and then let them go to calm herself. She walked towards the couch and table by the fireplace and glared at everything in sight, blaming it for teenage hormones.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm having fun with their characters now, hard to tell what's gonna happen next with two people as stubborn as them, eh? Well, please please **_**please **_**review, it makes my soul glad to be alive. THANK YOUUU!**


	7. Red Tempers

**I'm updating as much as possible before school begins and all my lovely time to do as I please will be squashed to a minimum. I'll still update often… Harry Potter is usually the only thing that keeps me sane. Anyway, if you haven't realized by now, not that you necessarily should…, ANYWAY, I'm an American writer trying to fit in British slang. It'll get better in time so give me a break for now, but just warning you. Enjoy! **

"You seem off," Ginny commented, sitting on Hermione's bed later that evening.

How was Hermione supposed to explain why she felt off?

She settled on summarizing and ommitting details. She often confuded in Ginny while Ginny confided in her. It was healthy to tell a friend problema and opinions, even for someoen as independant as Hermione.

Ginny was also independant in her own, fiery way.

"So you see... I met someone," Hermione began, sighing heavily but before she even got the chance to continue Ginny bounced on the bed and raised her pointer finger as if making a point.

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it," she said more to herself than Hermione. "So, tell me more."

"Well for starters, met is the wrong word. I knew him but not this way... But don't bother asking. Unless you figure it out yourself you won't know who it is."

"Challenge accepted," was all Ginny said, her blue eyes flashing.

Hermione groaned, "Please don't male ot your life mission to find out all my secrets now, Gin."

"Ooh, 'Mione has more secrets?"

"No, no, of course not. Merlin Gin, I completely forgot where I was going with this story."

Ginny mimed zipping her lips and shuffled onto the center of the bed to sit cross legged and began to listen attentively.

"He's not who you'd think I'd get involved with but he doesn't seem to be who he lets others believe he is to begin with. We ran into each other at a resort and you know how drunken nights go."

Ginny let out a 'whoop' and Hermione on closed her eyes and shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips before continuing.

"Annnnnyway, it continued past one night. Way past one night actually. And it wasn't all drinking either. It was talking and laughing Gin, the whole nine yards. Now we're back here, acting like it never happened. At the rate it's going actually, I bet I won't be able to count the amount of fights we have on both hands and it's already Wednesday!"

Ginny knew what was going on right away. "Looks like you two are harboring some feelings; unfinished business?"

Hermione looked at Ginny's excited face. She wondered briefly if Ginny was just shocked that Hermione actually went through this experience but shook the thought out of her head. Ginny might be girlier and more emotional, but she spoke with a level head.

This led Hermione's brain down a whole new chapter. Unfinished business? Emotions?

"HEY! Stop with those glazed over eyes and tell me who he is!"

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Draco had just stepped in from his late night patrol early Friday morning, 1 am to be exact. He heard voices coming from Hermione's room and truthfully, was more curious than he cared to admit. He quickly and quietly ran up the stairs, trying to hear what was going on in there without pressing his ear to the door. Eavesdropping was not in the nature of the Malfoys. They did not need to stop to that, nor did they ever want to.

"HEY! Stop with those glazed over eyes and tell me who he is!" shrieked a vaguely familiar voice from inside Hermione's room.

_Weaselette?_

"Gin, I'm hungry and there's some of my leftover cake in the kitchen," he heard Hermione's exasperated voice answer.

The bed squeaked as both girls unmistakably stood up and then he heard footsteps coming to the door.

"You mean your Autumn cake?" Ginny asked.

"The one and only," Hermione answered.

Before either girl could say any more or open the door, Draco fled into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards. In less than a minute, Hermione greeted him.

"Having trouble finding anything and everything in the kitchen are we, Malfoy?"

"I'm doing just fine, but if you've forgotten, I could just do this the other way and summon a house elf."

"Just like you to do that. Those poor creatures don't even know what freedom is yet this wizarding society uses them till the last second!" she shrilly announced.

" 'Mione, you said there was cake," said a more timid voice, with flaming red hair.

"Yes, yes Ginny, it should be on the middle shelf in the fridge," she said, turning her attention away from Malfoy for a minute.

_Fridge? Is that what Muggles called the ice box?" _

Ginny found the cake and grabbed two plates for herself and Hermione. Draco grabbed an apple but before he left the kitchenette, he just had to make another comment.

"Looks like you're going to be quite the housewife one day. 'She can cook without house elves!' I can see it now," he snidely remarked.

Hermione's back stiffened from her seat at the table and she turned the glare at him.

"At least I can do _something _without magic, which is more than you can say for yourself," she bit back.

"I'd like to disagree. If you had an memory at all, you would as well."

At this comment, Hermione was silent. What could she very well say without giving the whole summer away to Ginny?

Malfoy smirked and began to saunter off, biting into his apple and turning back to catch Hermione's eye one more time. If she didn't know better, she'd say his eyes were filled with a familiar dark _luster. _

Ginny was smiling into her food when Hermione turned around and her glare turned into a mask of exasperation.

"_What Ginny?" _she said, when Malfoy was surely out of earshot.

"You could've told me it was Malfoy, I would've understood. He's quite the eye candy, isn't he 'Mione? Tell me, what's it like to let go with those piercing eyes egging you on?"

The size of Hermione's eyes increased to a scary size and Ginny's laughter rang out freely.

"Gin, I have no idea what you're talking about," Hermione stated firmly.

"Oh but the color in your cheeks says you do," Ginny said back, taking a huge bite of Hermione's cake.

Hermione sighed and took a bite of her own cake to avoid saying any more.

"I knew from the moment you spoke to him. Normally, you'd never start anything with Malfoy. It'd just be him, shitting on your life, and you yelling back."

"So because I made a snide comment at Malfoy, you realized we slept together this summer?" Hermione asked, still shock shelled.

Ginny's smile wasn't fading. "You say it so nicely. _Slept together. _Judging by that look he just gave you there was a lot more shagging up against a wall or shower or door or-"

"Ginny! Shut. Up."

How had she literally hit the nail on the head for 3/ a million places they've fucked?

Hermione's outburst only caused Ginny's smile to grow wider when she realized she, in fact, was right.

"Hermione! Oh I knew it from the second it all clicked. Rowdy vacation, yeah?"

"Gin, I'm going to finish my cake and go to sleep. You will do the same and this topic is over, understood?"

Ginny nodded and happily lapped up the rest of her cake while Hermione shuffled in her seat, trying to get comfortable again but instead she let herself _feel _the look Draco had given her before and shivered.

Her back was still ramrod straight when she realized she had called him Draco in her head.

_Shouldn't let Malfoy mess with your head like that, Hermione, you're still just a Mudblood to him. _

**A/N: Okay, so there's another chapter for ya! Like I said, I love updating quickly because I know you guys want it regularly. I'm so thankful for the few reviews I've gotten, but like I said, if as many of you that added this story to Story Alert or Favorite Story reviewed, I'd be a much happier camper. I'm content for now but don't make me start holding out on you with review threats. Come on, at least five for Chapter 8. Then maybe I'll start giving previews… **

**I'll leave you with cliffies if you don't cooperate so think this through guys! Hope you enjoys and thanks for reading (: **


	8. Cheeks

**I am going to start of by thanking JaspersEmotionalGirl and lizziegurl15 for their reviews! Thanks to everyone else to and I hope you keep reviewing for some quick updates (: **

The rest of the week passed without any curveballs. The again, all that was left of that week was a measly Friday.

Breakfast passed, Hermione and Draco on opposite ends of the hall with their respective friends. Draco seemed to have a dark haired bint attached to his side that kept stroking back his shaggy hair and at one point he laughed at what she said. Pansy sat next to him but she was completely entranced in Blaise, as per the usual. Hermione was sitting with Ginny, who kept doing these little motions that always led to Draco. Instead of huffing and puffing at that, Hermione merely engaged in a conversation with Ron that soon proved to bother her more than Ginny's motions.

It seemed the Weasleys were not the companions of choice for the day and she excused herself to go to her first class, Advanced Charms. Her next two classes, Advanced Transfiguration and History of Magic passed without incident. Lunch came and went as she chose to spend it in her room, bringing up her snack to her bedroom.

Hermione quite liked her bedroom. Despite there being a fireplace in the common room, there was also one in her bedroom, at the foot of her bed. She had a queen-sized bed with deep maroon covers and gold sheets. She even had Gryffindor pride in her sleep. The mirror above her vanity wasn't overly large and the amount of products on this table was minimal, just like her application of make up. Her clothes were tucked into the shelves under the vanity. She had a personal bathroom through a small corridor with a huge bath and shower in one. But her favorite part was the ceiling to floor bookshelf that covered her entire back wall. If there was a book she'd read and didn't need, a new one appeared, taking its place.

Hermione sat on her bed, digging in to the lasts of her cake and a banana with a cold water to swallow it all down. She looked over her assignments but they didn't really register in her mind.

The thing that kept coming back to the front of her thoughts was that look Draco had given her just last night. She thought she'd noticed him staring at her in Transfiguration but she couldn't be sure. It wasn't like her to focus on something other than the class, but after that, she was lost in her own thoughts straight through the History of Magic.

_Other than my brain going haywire, nothing had actually happened _she rationalized.

Hermione sighed and sent her dishes flying down to the kitchen with a flick of her wand. She took a look at her watch and strode out to her Advanced Arithmancy class. It was quickly becoming a favorite due to the Professor Cynric.

Something possessed her to cast her hair-taming spell for a second time that day, just to refresh the spring in her chocolate curls. When she first looked up the spells, she realized you can change the color with just a flick of her wand and figured that going a few shades darker wouldn't do any harm. It turned out that her dark hair made her brown eyes seem lighter, amber, and her mom, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were all huge fans. That was all the encouragement she'd needed to keep it and stuck with the dark color. She took another look at herself and decided to add another layer or mascara to her eyes. And maybe another brush of that shiny pink blush.

There was a certain pep in her step all the way up to Arithmancy and when Cynric entered his class her face lit up. She paid close attention to the lecture as always, but found she had yet another reason to lose focus.

His emerald green eyes.

They were twinkling with some kind of merriment and she tried to place it the whole two hours. Without much luck, she told her brain to go back to focusing on the lecture at hand.

There was another 15 minute free for all at the end of class. This time the Professor excused himself to grade some of the previous nights assignments and Hermione dejectedly flipped her book open to this night's homework.

"Hermione, do you get any of the questions? I skimmed the chapter but couldn't find any answers," asked Ron's voice from behind her.

It may have taken seven years but Hermione knew better than to sit near Ron. All he did was copy her work or badger her for help. Much like he was doing right now.

"That's because you have to read the chapter Ronald," she told him, leaning only halfway over her shoulder to address him. "And no, I'm not going to help you out 'just this once,' okay?"

Ron turned towards his partner, who for the first time in seven years was NOT Harry but a rather quiet Hufflepuff.

"Hey Ernie? What do you know about these answers?" he tried and Hermione tuned the rest of the conversation out.

Hermione herself was seated next to a rather pleasant girl named Macy. She had dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, looked rather plain even with all her make up, but seemed to make good conversation.

"Hermione? You busy?" Macy asked.

"No not terribly, just trying to get ahead on this paper," she replied, dropping her quill and facing Macy.

"Good cause I have no drive to do any work right now and need to talk before my head explodes. I know it's barely the first week of school but getting back in the rhythm of it seems to be the hardest part for me," Macy said, seemingly in one breath.

Hermione knew what she meant and loved the way Macy's brain operated. It was logical and covered topic to topic. Intriguing.

"I know the feeling, trust me. I've been using a Pick-Me-Up Draught since Wednesday morning."

"Oh you simply must let me try some. Where'd you get it?"

"Just that Apothecary on the corner of Alcott Lane. If you find me before lunch, you can have a sample. I almost always have it with me then," Hermione told her.

Macy's eyes lit up at the idea of some energy being restored. "Oh thank you so much. Maybe then I'd be able to look like something other than what the Kneazle dragged in, as they say."

At the mention of a Kneazle, Hermione thought of her cat Crookshanks who turned out to be half Kneazle. It ha the ability to sense bad auras people carried and was more useful than a watchdog in some situations. It was in Mrs. Weasley's possesion for now, as no pets were allowed at Hogwarts under any circumstances.

Soon enough, the Professor concluded the class and Hermione turned to leave.

"Ms. Granger?" Cynric called her to his desk.

She obediently walked to his desk, her heart thumping out of her throat.

"Yes Professor?"

"I already told you to call me Cynric."

"Then I must insist you call me Hermione."

Cynric grinned up at her from his desk.

"Well Hermione, I was wondering if you were busy at 7 this evening."

Her eyebrows rose sky high and he quickly added on, "I have tons of assignments to grade and no time to deal with things such as filing them and recording them in my assignment book. I couldn't help but notice you're extremely efficient and no doubt brightest in the class. I gather you wouldn't mind some extra credit work?"

"Of course not. That's wonderful actually, thank you!" Hermione responded, enthusiasm mixed with excitement oozing out of every pore.

"7 on the dot it is then," Cynric concluded, still smiling at her with that gleam in his green eyes.

"See you then Cynric!" Hermione said and turned to leave the class.

She didn't really mind her next two one hour classes. Potions wasn't nearly a favorite with Snape to deal with but Advanced D.A.D.A. seemed like an old friend, especially with Aberforth Dumbledore teaching the class.

It was obvious to everyone that Aberforth favored Hermione and Ron, treated them like assistants rather than students and grandchildren. She and Ron were actually on good terms in that one class. It also didn't bother her that it was the last class of her say and she had an hour to lounge around waiting for dinner.

Hermione, in any other year, would've instead filled this hour studying or reading some more. But thinking back to CERTAIN parts of the summer, she thought of the relaxation and stress free attitude she desperately needed.

Getting the most out of her quickly disappearing childhood seemed to be a new goal of Hermione's. It explained the quick friendship with Ginny and other character changes. It was all part of a goal.

On that particular Friday, she chose to occupy her free hour finding a well fitting pair of blue jeans and a short sleeved deep lilac scoop necked t-shirt. She wore her worn leather watch and gold necklace that belonged to her grandmother. It contained a solid gold pendant in the shape of a feather and held a special meaning to Hermione and her grandmother Agatha.

Quills were feathers and they symbolized writing and learning. Hermione loved to do those things. Learning also involved reading and so in short, the pendant her grandma had given her summarized the personality of Hermione Jean Granger.

Hermione then went to sit in the common room to amuse herself by casting various spells at objects around the room while waiting for the dinner hour.

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Malfoy walked back to his common room after a short chat with Blaise in the alcoves after his D.A.D.A. class.

Draco was quick to notice that the only class he didn't share with Hermione was Herbology due to his intense hatred of the subject. He instead filled it with Ancient Runes, an elective he never got to take 6th year.

Most students took all their electives from 3rd to 6th year, but some still had one in 7th year. Those were the only classes that had students of various years in them, although Hogwarts did try to schedule you in an hour that had mostly your own age group.

Advanced classes were really the only special thing 7th years took. He'd happened to take all the Advanced classes as Hermione and the same regular ones as her two. Did they really have such similar tastes in subjects?

He refused Advanced Potions because two hours of Snape's droning and no doubt coddling Malfoy as a prized student was not on any agenda of his.

Predictably, Granger didn't take the class either. They both opted for Slughorn's regular Potions.

Before he got to the common room, he thought of Granger that afternoon in Arithmancy. He tried to avert his attentions and gaze away from her all morning by talking to either Blaise, Pansy, Theo or even Astoria in the early classes, depending on who was in which classes and near him.

Advanced Arithmancy was a class he'd chosen to suffer alone and was seated next to Druelle Blishwick, a Pureblood Slytherin he was somehow or other distantly related to. They were on friendly terms, seeing as they kept each other company amongst other close aged relatives at several larger gatherings of his family. However, their friendship didn't hold a candle to staring at Hermione and he did just so.

He noticed the rosy cheeks and felt his own flush. Why did her CHEEKS have such am affect on him? It was unsettling to think of. He noticed her amber eyes looked bigger and her curls looks so ... sensual. He felt himself want to run his hands through them while ramming her into a wall -

Okay, enough sexual daydreams, time to walk into the common room.

But that really didn't do much to subside the daydreams.

**A/N: So this is my longest chapter yet! Be good and they'll keep coming lengthier. As always, review review review. School just started today, I'm exhausted and it's going to take more effort to update so all your encouragement is truly welcome. **

**Hope you enjoy! **


	9. Snickers

**So I've decided to put some time and effort into revision this time. Maybe you'll get a preview? ;) Be good and you shalllll get what you want guys! I want to thank all of you that reviewed on the last chapter. **

**This is a quick update, second time today, so it's not as long as the last chapter. **

**witchmae135 – Haha glad you like the story and hey, threats get results don't they? As for the Professor, we'll see. He is **_**very **_**attractive after all. **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Nothing I can say without giving things away but thanks for the comment, it is actually really appreciated. I like to know I'm giving my characters some shape! **

**cgh – Thanks! I try to update fast, although with school it may be harder. I look forward to more reviews however. **

**Irish Thorn – I will certainly try! I have a few chapters typed up and the weekend's coming up so I'll try to get some more in also. I have another fanfiction **_**Screams **_**also in the making, but I feel like I'm favoring this story and updating quicker. Oops (: Haha, I love the adoring fans bit, I wish I had some. **

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It took some effort but Draco made it to his bathroom without a single comment or stare at Granger.

He'd been staring at her much too often recently and she'd caught him a multitude of times.

The comments only made fights arise, and without the cover of a daiquiri to take the edge off everyone's mood or some palm tree shade, there was no way to avoid them. To his dismay, she never backed down till her cheeks weren't flushed and her chest wasn't heaving. They were arguing but that didn't turn off his male reactions as much as he wished it did.

The sight of her in a tight scoop neck shirt compared to the frumpy, for lack of a better word, uniform the sported of late, had done a number on him. She was leaning over what seemed to be a charmed teacup strutting over the table and her generous breasts were spilling out of the low cut. Her hips were visible from the low cut of her jeans and he found himself hurrying away to avoid her noticing him and walking around with a stiff one for two long.

He allowed himself a nice wank, picturing her wet, toned body in several bikinis or naked, against his in the shower. The memories turned him on again and he moaned, throwing his head back against the shower wall in frustration. Would it never end?

He hadn't slept with Astoria since he got back. He hadn't touched a girl that way since Hermione, over a week ago now, and the frustration was slowly but surely building.

_Why couldn't they happily shag at every given opportunity in their common room? _

Slytherin and Gryffindor; Pureblood and Mudblood; good and evil; the list went on.

Draco wasn't about to shock his friends by announcing his newfound love for all Muggleborns and their mothers. No.

He was going to have to find another way to land Hermione in bed before he lost his mind.

It bothered him that he noticed her flushed cheeks again. And her freckles, and that angular jawline. He saw a pendant dangling from her neck and yearned to know what it was.

He was just noticing all of this because he wanted it in his bed, wasn't he?

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Dinner held lots of looks from Ginny, with raised eyebrows and knowing smiles at Hermione's outfit that she kept shaking her head at.

"No Gin, stop giving me that look. No!" she was hissing under her breath, wishing Ginny would stop motioning to Malfoy. It was getting hard to get Ron, Luna and Neville not to notice what she kept referring to as she was always blatantly staring off in that direction.

"Whatever. Suit yourself with those lies 'Mione," Ginny had said, dismissing the topic FINALLY after a day of torture.

Hermione didn't really know why she changed out of her uniform that day. Normally she and a few other seventh years, mainly Slytherins, just stayed in their uniforms. The majority changed into comfortable Muggle clothes after classes.

Only Seventh years were given the luxury of having the option to change out of uniforms after classes and on weekends.

A low cut t-shirt wasn't exactly very Hermione and neither were those EXTREMELY well fitted jeans.

It was natural for Ginny to assume Malfoy was the culprit.

Really, it was our lovely Professor Lucas Cynric who had requested Hermione's help. How could she resist the charms of a young professor, well endowed in the looks department, taken by her and friendly, to say the least?

It was natural to be flattered, she kept telling herself.

"'Mione you look like a girl today. It's nice," Ron commented through a mouth full of food.

You'd think he'd learn his lesson after their fourth year, especially after the Yule Ball, but alas, history repeats itself.

"Glad you decided to recognize I have different genitalia than you, Ronald. Good to know," she retorted without so much as a look in his direction as he, along with Neville, choked on their food.

Hermione sighed. She seemed to make a habit out of sighing and finished her meal quickly, only stopping when spoken to by someone in her group and answering their questions or comments. Keeping up friendships was not a natural feeling to Hermione as it was to everyone else.

She was so used to Harry and Ron. Ginny was someone she had time and time again to get used to. Luna and Neville weren't too hard either. All together though? Different story. It was as if she could only really concentrate on one person at a time.

If that was true, her capacity was already full and it didn't involve any of those sitting around her.

"It's amazing, really, how Draco seems to look at this table without malice. Just a short while ago, you'd never imagine such a spectacle," the dreamy voice of Luna interrupted Hermione's thoughts although Luna didn't seem to be looking in the direction of the Slytherins at all, more like in space. Hermione immediately spun around to look up at Malfoy. Sure enough, he was looking at the table without malice, more like with need.

He was looking at their "table" meaning her and with need being sex. She snorted lightly and immediately stopped herself from being a hypocrite. It wasn't as if she'd forgotten that was more or less the face she gave him everyday not too long ago. It wasn't as if she didn't notice the charge of their common room pick up when they were both in a room together.

She'd noticed him in the common room earlier and as soon as he shut the door of his bedroom, she leaned back and let out the breath she was holding. She knew he looked at her and just knowing that brought warmness to her lower stomach and caused her eyes to begin swimming.

She shook as much of the confusing mush out of her head as she could and yet here she was again, catching that gaze with a snickering Ginny to her left.

**A/N: Okay guys, I really am ecstatic at the fact that reviews are picking up, I have yet to check my views but I'm sure they're good too. Thanks to all of you that are either favoriting this story or me as an author, or putting either on alert. It's appreciated just as much. **

**Now, a promised preview… **_**hehehe… **_

**Hermione's hand brushed against the cold stone wall and her pace slowed beside Draco's. It was so cold she could see her breath and so silent she could hear Draco's. **

"**I am sorry, you know," he said, without any sneers lacing his tone. "That she's dead." **

**Hermione looked at his pristine face as the moonlight hit it in a way that made him shine. **

"**Me too." **


	10. Drinks

**I love the fast reviews I've been getting of late, thank you guys so much for the feedback. **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Haha, I'm glad my preview makes ya curious! Don't worry I'm not planning on killing anyone important off… yet**

** – Yay! Thanks for the review (: **

**lizziegurl15 – Haha I try! To be honest I am horrid at editing my own stuff, I can't make myself sit down and do it thoroughly ): **

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Hermione walked out of the common room after enduring another look from Malfoy.

What was his ISSUE?

The long was equivalent to pure hunger.

She shook all the Draco thoughts out of her head and then realized he was Draco in her head again. Typical.

Dinner passed as all her meals in the Great Hall recently had passed. Ron talking with his mouth full, Luna making remarks that were always eye openers and Neville looking uncomfortable were trademarks of her group.

Ginny, on the other hand, had resorted to making innuendos.

Soon Hermione was making her way to Cynric's room for her seven o'clock meeting.

Entering Cynric's room, she called out to get his attention.

"Ah, Hermione, precisely on time."

"I try, sir," she replied warmly.

"You really need to stop being so proper all the time. I'm older than you but yet it wears me out more than it seems to bother you."

"Force of habit, I guess."

"Anyways, I've graded about half of the work so all you have to do is check off the names in that book," he said, pointing to a list on his desk, "and write the grades right near it. I can trust you to keep the grades to yourself, correct?"

"Of course, that is not an issue."

They both worked together with a slow flow of conversation. At 8 o'clock the professor thanked her for her time and set another appointment at the same time next week.

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Draco was wandering around the common room till he finally settled in the kitchen and called out for a house elf.

"Master Draco, called, sir?" said the house elf.

"Yes, uh…"

"Sir, my name is Pinky, master," the disheveled house elf said, stuttering slightly.

"Pinky. Well I was just going to ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, discreetly if possible."

"Of course Master Draco. Be back in a jiffy," the house elf replied and disapparated on the spot.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were a Muggle invention that Draco had grown fond of. He was not proud of this and would hide his fondness for them no matter what.

It's not like Draco actually believed in any of that Pureblood mumbo jumbo anymore, but somehow, the people he'd known all his life respected him more if he stuck with it.

Draco sat patiently in the kitchen and glanced around, his eyes landing on the clock. It was a little past eight and he couldn't help but wonder where Hermione was. Her full head of curls was missing from the common room. She was usually bent over her books at this time on the weekdays but he guessed that wasn't the case for the weekend.

_Probably at the library. _

They had their patrols tonight from 11-1 together, which would no doubt be an adventure.

Pinky popped in, served him the sandwich and disapparated again after Draco dismissed her. He always thought house elves were rather cute.

His mother, Narcissa, was absolutely livid when she found little Draco playing with Dobby in the garden one day. She thought the creatures were good for nothing other than servitude, which in the manor was more like slavery. The house elves cooked, cleaned, bought supplies, set the tables, did the laundry – basically did everything but were never seen.

Narcissa called them wrinkly, smelly bits of mud. They were only wrinkly and smelly due to the way they were treated however.

Draco's mind wandered around the Manor as he bit into the sandwich, contemplating visiting his mother this Christmas.

She did love him, and would do practically anything for him, but it was still such a drag to put up with the upper-class Pureblood shit she insisted on.

He didn't exactly feel like thinking about how difficult his relationship with his mother was turning out to be and went back to chewing on his sandwich. Hermione then walked in, straight for the kitchen.

She stopped for a second when she saw him then her lips curved up in a smile looking at his plate.

He scowled but kept chewing, trying to ignore the immense effect that just her _presence _had on him.

She settled for pasta salad and sat across him, quietly eating her meal.

"Where were you?" he asked, finally, mentally kicking himself for letting the words slip out of his mind where they should've stayed.

She stopped eating for a second and cocked her head to the side before answering, "Out. And since when do you eat Muggle food Malfoy?"

"I don't know," he responded, shrugging his shoulders.

They were both looking down at their food and chewing silently.

"So why isn't the great Draco Malfoy out anyways?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"We have rounds."

"Not for a few hours."

"No one interests me anymore."

Her gaze matched his at that comment and the invisible fire burning between them was screaming that she was the exception to that statement of his. Heat burned her cheeks as they flushed for the millionth time as she realized that was true, given the looks of recent and the energy their fights required, and looked down again. Draco sighed and stood up to get a drink.

He came back and poured himself a shot of Firewhiskey mixed with pumpkin juice. He raised his eyebrows at her, silently asking if she wants some and she nodded.

"But I'll take my shot with some Coke," she claimed.

All thoughts of patrolling were gone for the few hours they both spent sipping their drinks that were now moved to the couch by the fireplace.

"She has a nice side?" Hermione almost gasped, then covered her mouth stifling a giggle.

"Laugh all you want but Pansy is a sweetheart to everyone she likes," Draco explained, taking a sip of his bottomless cup of Firewhiskey.

"How is it to have your two best friends in love?"

Draco thought for a few seconds, wondering why he knew he was going to answer this question honestly.

"It's not as bad as you'd think. If I had feelings for Pansy, it'd be horrid and initially I worried about that happening because Blaise is equivalent to my brother, the closest to me anyone's ever been. But over time I realized I don't. Besides, Blaise is as stoic as any Slytherin in public and their displays of affection are always kept to a minimum. But when they're not it just feels like my brother and sister are making out."

Hermione made a face, "Yuck."

Draco only rolled his eyes at her.

"That sounds like a cute Slytherin love story though," she amended.

He made a face now and they both sipped some more.

"What about you?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she looked up from the spot she was staring at on the floor.

"Your best friend?"

Hermione's face fell and he felt the heaviness of the question he asked already.

"Her name was Kacia. She was so much more gorgeous than me," she started but as soon as those words were out of her mouth Draco ached to amend them, but kept his peace.

"She was Greek, you know, a Greek goddess. She had this dark, flowing hair that was never out of place. Stark opposite from mine. Her eyes were a bunch of colors, blue and green and grey… she was thin, always, but self-conscious for no reason. I met her in kindergarten and we were inseparable since then, since we were running around with capes on our shoulders pretending magic exists. I told her all my secrets and she told me all of mine. No one came between us and they knew never to try. Then one day it was all gone."

Draco was staring at Hermione's broken up face and tried to make it better with his eyes but she wouldn't look up at him.

"What happened?"

"Her entire family was murdered. No one ever found out who it was or why. No one knows whether it was random or deliberate or…" she trailed off and let a single tear drop.

She looked at her watch and almost jumped up from her seat on the floor, against the back of the couch.

"We have to go," she said, wobbling slightly as she stood.

"What?" he said, still sitting and contemplating her latest news to him.

"Patrols?" she said impatiently and grabbed her robes off the couch.

As quick as that both of them were out of their cozy common room and into the frosty walls of Hogwarts. It was still September but a certain chill surrounded the castle already, a warning of a severe winter ahead.

Hermione's hand brushed against the cold stone wall and her pace slowed beside Draco's. It was so cold she could see her breath and so silent she could hear Draco's.

"I am sorry, you know," he said, without any sneers lacing his tone. "That she's dead."

Hermione looked at his pristine face as the moonlight hit it in a way that made him shine.

"Me too."

**A/N: Yay, I have 10 chapters up finally! Loads more to come! I am really loving the reviews, however long or short they are. I welcome constructive criticism also, so please let me know your ideas. Keep reading and I will be updating as much as I can. :D :D :D **

**Preview…**

**Hermione sat back, shock written on her face. It was surprising to think but her brain didn't stop functioning, instead it worked faster. Wrong, it thought. Wrong. Get out of here. Draco. **_**Draco. **_

**Just like that, the name that infuriated her made her lean in again, to her own surprise, and let the man control her. **


	11. Whoa

**So, as usual, thanks for the reviews, I loved them all (: **

**lizziegurl15 – Haha don't worry your review was long enough as is! Thanks for the positive words :D **

**Gin-gin06 – No worries, greedy is good. I'm glad you like Cynric, he needs some fans. **

**Irish Thorn – Lol, so do I but we'll see where their characters take the story. Keep in mind Draco and Hermione got along due to the alcohol! **

**Enjoy everyone… **

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Sunday morning came and went quickly, seeing as Hermione spend it in bed with a pounding headache. She drank much more than she should have with none other than Draco and then both of them proceeded to do rounds together.

It was honestly a miracle they didn't run into any teachers and the kids they did run into were younger and scrammed before they saw Hermione and Draco's state.

Both of them stumbled back into the room at about 1:30 A.M., losing track of time and they both also passed out at the foot of the couch in front of the still roaring fire. At about 5 A.M. Hermione stirred in her sleep and cracked her eyes open, then shut them as her headache registered. Still, she noticed the unusual surroundings in those seconds and it was only after she placed what was going on that she noticed a body close to hers, with an arm around her waist.

She froze but quickly realized that as soon as they came back from rounds they fell asleep and nothing happened. She tried to shift herself out from under his arm without waking him and made it up the stairs and into her bed, wincing with every step she took.

_Always the alcohol, always. _

She successfully nursed her headache in bed till about 1 P.M. and then decided to take out her books and read.

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Draco had felt Hermione slip out from under his arm but he was too curious to see what she'd do than to let on he was up.

The fact she walked away from him made him groan and rollover, only to fall into her scent. Eventually he fell back asleep on the couch and wished that every time they got along wasn't always due to alcohol.

But she pissed him off, badly. She always had to be right, she always had to bring him down and shit on his life. And she was always right; he was just a bad person.

It's just they couldn't be friends, but there was still something there that couldn't be ignored, no matter how hard they both tried. He began to notice the way she looked and him and ruled out that it was a figment of his imagination because it happened often.

Then again, their friendship seemed unthinkable. They were enemies since they didn't know what hate was, for at eleven years old one can never be held accountable for their actions. They were babies, they really were, but all that stupid drama made her punch him in their third year. And then the reasons for dislike deepened, the war happened and everything, all things around them and involving them, changed drastically.

Maybe the only reason they were even here was because everything happened. Maybe things were meant to happen this way to get to this point.

If they were, their stupid pride sincerely had to get out of the way.

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It was a Wednesday when Hermione's throat started burning and scratching, when her voice grew hoarse and she seemed more tired than usual.

As Hermione always did, she kept going to classes and studying to the fullest, not letting a small cough get to her.

Cynric's class was her favorite; that's the way she thought of it in her head. He seemed to be partial to her and he had no reason not to be.

She'd been helping him for three weeks now and it was nearing October. The weather was getting colder and could be the reason she was feeling more ill by the day.

Hermione, as he'd predicted, turned out to be quite an efficient helper. In their allotted one hour, she got more and more done each week, leaving them more and more time at the end to share some tea and talk.

Hermione loved the arrangement. She got credit for being there and also got to see her grades days before anyone else did. They were always stellar but then again, nothing less would be acceptable to her.

When 7 o'clock came around that Saturday, Hermione chose light boyfriend capris and a tight deep red v-neck camisole. She had on her usual make up but her curls were relaxed, and the change let sensuality roll off of her in waves.

Draco kept in his groan when she passed him in the common room and waved a short bye.

They'd been on semi-pleasant terms the past few weeks, but nothing as friendly as the last time they drank together. He always wondered where she left for on these Saturday evenings, but she never offered an explanation and he wasn't going to let on that he cared. It was very un-Draco to care.

Pansy and Blaise were so wrapped up in themselves that they currently didn't even realize something was off about him; he had emotion in his eyes.

Unfortunately, Theodore Nott had noticed something was off but knew better than to try and bring it up with Draco. Instead he tried to place the change silently, in his own mind, because it was more entertaining than watching Pansy and Blaise in the Slytherin common room.

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"You know, it's been so long since I've actually been in the Muggle world but I've still seen all those movies you mentioned," Cynric chuckled over his cup of hot tea, finishing it off.

"Which one was your favorite then?" Hermione challenged, mentally quizzing him to see if he was lying.

Cynric turned out to be a Muggle culture lover but sometimes he was still lost on some inventions. Like the toaster for example.

"Arthur? I think that's what it was called. It was a fascinating concept. Choosing love over money."

Immediately Hermione's mind flashed to Draco, the Pureblood with the fortune, and she frowned at herself.

"What's wrong?" Cynric asked, noticing her face.

"Oh no nothing, sorry," she immediately brightened. "I think it's a wonderful concept. It shouldn't even really be a choice."

"Explain," Cynric said, leaning forward and towards her on the couch.

"Well, to me, it sounds like whether you're choosing happiness or money. Why would you want to have money if you can't be happy with it? Why wouldn't you want happiness at any cost?"

"You're fascinating," he said.

"It's really just an observation, I mean – "

But her next thought was cut off by a pair of lips crashing down on her own.

Hermione sat back, shock written on her face. It was surprising to think but her brain didn't stop functioning, instead it worked faster. Wrong, it thought. Wrong. Get out of here. Draco. _Draco._

Just like that, the name that infuriated her made her lean in again, to her own surprise, and let the man control her.

Cynric's hands roamed her slim waist, her hips, then back up and rounded over her breasts, exploding out of her low cut v-neck shirt.

She really was asking for it, dressing like this to every meeting, she reminded herself. She'd thought about this and didn't really ever come to a conclusion about her feelings but now it felt to good to stop.

Not breaking the kiss, she pulled into his lap, and straddled it. Cynric groaned in pleasure at the contact and started massaging her breasts, pulling off her shirt and getting rid of her bra.

When her moans were getting the best of her, he paused his kiss for a second to see her face and saw the same thing Draco always did. Flushed, adorable, sexy, orgasmic cheeks.

He continued to suck on her neck and when he found her pulse point she let out a small whimper and slid her hands under his black shirt.

She felt the ripple of muscles and immediately pulled it off over his head to get a better look.

Hermione let out another short whimper at the sight of him and he grinned before puling her in for another kiss. She let herself be placed gingerly on the couch, and as her head hit the pillow she felt his arousal against her stomach.

The warmth flooded through her entire body and they both stopped. Cynric looked at her and his pale green eyes clouded over with lust when Hermione started to work on his zipper.

He slid off her pants in less time than it took her to open his and felt her core through her panties.

"So wet," he managed before she bucked against his hand, silently begging for more.

"Stop teasing me," she said through gritted teeth and immediately felt relief as his fingers sank into her.

"Oh sweet Merlin," she breathed and as his pace increased and soon the sounds she was making were becoming more and more frantic. His thumb circled her clit and she came within moments, trying desperately to catch her breath.

She began pulling of his pants and he looked at her, for a sign to continue. She leaned in and kissed his neck, sucked on it and pulled him fully on top of her. Cynric set himself up at her entrance and pushed in, gaining a gasp and a shudder from Hermione before her hips were flying up to meet his thrusts.

**A/N: Bad Hermione. Well, I need more reviews for sneak peeks guys so don't hesitate to leave a comment. Thanks! I'll be updating soon (:**


	12. Fever

**Please excuse the long wait, I didn't forget about you guys! School, sports and an emotional breakdown kinda made this week difficult. Most of the updating will be around the weekends from now on, it's easier that way. I am writing this as I go along, with new ideas and things all the time despite the fact I know the main direction this is going. So bear with me!**

**I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get any reviews past the second or third day of putting my last chapter up. Regardless, thanks to those of you that did review. **

**Gin-gin06 – So glad you like Cynric, few reviewers have been harsh towards him. I gotta work on making him more likable, eh? **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Hermione gone wild. **

**BelleBelles – It is out of character, but I'm explaining why as I go along. She's not ALWAYS out of character though, you'll see. There's just moments… fleeting…**

**laffytgirl – As I may have said before, I find it difficult to proofread my own work, it's weird because I think I did it right but I may not have so I skim. Thanks for the criticism, it's welcome. Kacia is Hermione's best muggle friend and her name's Greek, btw. **

**Tiaralynn54 – Trying my best to keep up with the demands! Haha, who doesn't love some Hogwarts gone wild in Cancun? (:**

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Hermione's head was spinning as she stepped out of Cynric's room and she was smiling to herself. That might've been the most uncharacteristic thing she'd ever done, but then again, she was doing lots of those things these days.

She turned a corner on the third floor and started down the stairs to her portrait hole on the first floor. She readjusted her camisole that didn't seem to fit right anymore with all the ways it'd be tugged and pulled her wavy hair up into a ponytail. There was a pep in her step and she couldn't help but wonder if there was a different person living in her body. She giggled hysterically to herself at the prospect and passed an empty hallway before she heard a familiar sounding groan. She backed up in time to see Malfoy pressing perfect, rich and Pureblood Astoria Greengrass against the wall, attacking her neck and grinding his lower body into hers.

Hermione ran the rest of the way into the common room and managed to just step into the common room before she threw up the contents of her stomach and slid to the floor.

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Draco was heading back to the common room after he ran into Astoria on his way back from the library.

His girlfriend really wasn't demanding much when she asked for one make out session after months of nothing. Still, he had to picture Granger in her latest unGrangeresque outfit to make himself sound like he was enjoying it believably.

It wasn't till the smell of scourgified puke filled his nostrils that he noticed Granger slicked with sweat whimpering in a dreamless sleep in a heap on the floor to the right of the portrait hole.

"Hermione!" he panicked and scooped her up onto the couch.

She opened her eyes slightly but nausea overtook her and she groaned and twisted in his arms.

He placed an incantation over her head and sighed with relief.

"It's just a slight magical malady Granger, you'll be okay," he told her, conjuring a blanket and tucking her in on the couch.

"I don't need your help," she mustered up, without opening her eyes.

He chuckled lightly and snapped his fingers for the house elf to arrive.

"I don't see how you're gonna help yourself out of this one," he told the sick girl and she groaned of pure exasperation at the situation.

Of course, at the time she wanted to see his face the least, he was her only hope.

In a few minutes she found herself upright and sipping at the spoon Malfoy was feeding her, full of steaming hot chicken soup.

After a few mouthfuls, she had some strength to speak.

"Chicken soup is a Muggle remedy," she said, questioningly.

He grinned. "Silly Granger. It actually has magical spices laced in it that contain healing powers. The Muggles adopted it through some interrelations back in the day."

She glared up at him but one spoon after another, let him feed her. There were only so many situations in which you can belittle Hermione Granger and this was one of them. She kept eying him at the process continued, searching his face for a sign of Malfoyness.

There was none.

After he fed her like an incompetent, small child, she leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes. But, she only let herself sink into a deep and much needed sleep when she heard his footsteps becoming softer and farther

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Sunday morning Hermione woke up to Malfoy standing over her.

"Better?" he asked when she opened her eyes.

She was laying on the couch under a pile of blankets that she didn't put there. She sat up gingerly and let out a breath of relief when nausea didn't overtake her.

"Yes, actually I am," she replied.

He accio'd something that sounded like 'Granger's tea' and she took the steaming, huge cup, gratefully between her hands.

Between sips, she looked up at him, now sitting in an armchair across her still looking at her.

"Thank you," she said, "for everything."

He straightened up at this but she caught the way his mouth tugged into a half smile.

"Well I couldn't very well just leave you passed out now, could I?"

She ignored his remark, not looking to start another fight because she simply didn't have the energy to do so.

They both sat there for a very long time, her under a multitude of what seemed like entirely forest green Goblin made silk blankets, that she shifted uncomfortably under and him sitting in the armchair, watching her squirm.

Hermione didn't like the fact he'd thought of blankets and that she was completely grateful for them. It wasn't in her nature to be taken care of, but to take of.

Especially not by Malfoy.

It was an eerie feeling that ended up sparking up the damn butterflies again. Those creatures needed to die. But they turned violent, sending her being into flames, when everything flashed back to her.

Astoria against the wall, Draco's soft moan.

She got to her feet, pushed the blankets to the side, and put the mug down on the table. She stalked up into her room with as much buoyancy as she could muster and noticed she was in her pajamas, wincing. How did that happen? She didn't give it too much thought when Draco called out.

"Where are you going?" he said, tracing her figure, halfway up the stairs with his eyes.

"My room," she replied, only allowing herself to look back for a second before turning back and landing on her bed right before her head left her reeling in nausea again.

"Ughhhhhhhh," she muttered, sliding under the covers. This was going to be a long Sunday.

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On Monday, Hermione wasn't in any of her classes. Everything was a lot quieter, Professors were a lot more impatient, and Cynric was strangely anxious.

"I'm not understanding why this is so difficult? This class never seemed to have a problem solving anything of this simplicity," Cynric almost shouted, going red in the face.

It was the second half of the hour and the class remained on problem 2.

"Nope, that was just Hermione, mate" Ron muttered under his breath but Cynric caught the statement and turned redder.

"That essay I assigned earlier is to be tripled in length." The class groaned. "Yes, I'm requiring 6 pages on mathematical matters. If that's the only way they'll stick with you then that's the way it'll have to be done now, won't it?"

He then excused the class an hour early and retreated to his back office.

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I'm hoping to make chapters longer and you all know how much reviews inspire me… the more reviews the longer the chapter? There's a new one to try. **

**Sneak Peek: **

**There was tinsel everywhere, but then there was mistletoe. Hermione swallowed. **

"**I guess I have to kiss you then," he said, lips curving up and dark eyes flashing mischievously. **

"**Right here." He leaned closer. "Right now." He breathed and leaned in, pressing his solid body against her pliant one. **


	13. Confessions

**Reviews are lovely, and here's another chapter for your efforts. **

**Alijandra's Editor – Thank you for ALL the reviews! I was out with friends yesterday and I just kept getting e-mail notifications with your wonderful reviews from every chapter! It would've been so easy to just read everything and then review it all, but you took the time and effort to actually leave a review on every chapter. Thanks so much! I'm glad you like the story, the characters and I LOVE how you comment on certain parts of the chapters like the pb &j sandwich being muggle food and how I trick you guys with the previews, hehe. Keep reading and reviewing! **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Haha, I'm glad I got a fan that keeps wanting more chapters! I'm sorry, the preview is actually for the chapter after this one because I edited a few scenes in and split it up differently, but either way it's gonna happen. Read it again though, and notice it doesn't **_**have **_**to be Draco or the teacher….**

**BelleBelles – The many sides of Draco! I feel like there should be a book on just him and his sexiness…**

**lizziegurl15 – Maybe your wishes will be answered some time soon… there is sooooo much unresolved tension. **

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It was Wednesday night that Hermione made her way down to the library at noon and finished making up all her missed work and studying by 5, just in time to get ready for dinner. The past few days passed quietly for her, she spent most of her time reading Muggle mystery novels in the common room, bundled up by the fire and always retreated back to bed when she knew Malfoy was heading back. He took over her Head Girl duties from Saturday night, even though they were supposed to do the weekend ones together, and she decided that the only way to get over this illness and feel better was to get back in the swing of things.

So, tonight she was going to do her patrol duties since she finished all her work. Tomorrow would be just another school day full of learning, duties and suppressed feelings.

Back in her room, Hermione settled for her comfortable dark jeans and a dark blue plaid flannel shirt. She took a satisfied look at herself before heading out to the dining hall after about an hour of getting ready and convincing herself to go out. She touched her grandma's pendant and walked downstairs.

"'Mione, you're alive!" was Ron's intelligent remark when she sat down with the usual group.

"Yeah, unfortunately I haven't died yet," she snapped at him, not really in the mood to talk to the dimwit.

He noticed the ice in her voice and went back to talking to Harry while gulping down food like there's no tomorrow and Harry threw her a sympathetic look.

"Feel all better, Hermione?" asked Neville with a smile and she forced a smile back.

Maybe coming down was a bad idea, it did require too much socializing.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of conversing with Neville and Luna about how yes, she really was all right and no, it wasn't actually that bad but yes, she didn't think it was a good idea to go to class, Ginny took over.

"What's wrong?"

Hermione looked up at Ginny with a small smile and then looked down. "Nothing Gin."

"Except there _is _something bloody wrong, so you're going to spit it out," her best friend answered in a harsh whisper.

Hermione sighed but knew Ginny knew her better than anyone and wouldn't let it go. She called it her "duty" to make sure all was right in Hermione's world.

"It's nothing."

Ginny just stared.

"It's personal."

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay." Hermione cast a silencing charm around the two of them and searched for the right words to start her tale.

"Um, you know that new professor?"

"This is about a professor?"

"Shut up Gin. Just listen."

Ginny's eyes widened slightly but she nodded.

"Ever since he took over Arithmancy he's been overly friendly towards me. And we met every Saturday night after dinner so I could help him grade papers. Eventually it was more talking than grading and then this Saturday…"

Hermione's voice trailed off and this time Ginny's eyes widened considerably.

"No…" the redhead breathed, but Hermione nodded with a tight smile.

"_Bloody hell._"

"I know Gin, I know. Best part is, that's not even the main point."

"Oh Merlin," Ginny replied.

"Don't worry I didn't shag anyone else."

"Well that's disappointing considering a certain blonde is positively burning holes in the back of your head right now," Gin said, her eyes on something far behind Hermione's head.

Hermione took a breath. "That's funny. You'd think he'd be busy shagging Astoria by now."

"_**Bloody hell**_**, **I forgot about that…"

"Ginny, you knew?" Hermione shrieked.

"I forgot!" Ginny defended herself.

Hermione just buried her head in her hands. "Well, I didn't know. Since when are they an item anyway."

"Um, since last May 'Mione, they've been together forever," Ginny said, then noticed the look in Hermione's eyes and quickly amended, "It's more of a financial agreement than anything. Between the Malfoys and Greengrasses."

Hermione just let out a breath.

"Right well, the first thing I saw after leaving Cynric's office was them practically shagging against the wall."

"Ouch."

"Then I promptly threw up and passed out once I got into the common room and woke up to Malfoy taking care of me for the next few days. It was positively mortifying Gin, he was feeding me and he changed me into pajamas and oh I don't know," the girl said, once again burying her face in her hands and Ginny gave her a big hug.

"It'll be okay 'Mione. I haven't seen them together at all since the year began, even now. He's still staring so straighten up and keep your chin up high, okay?"

Hermione did so, and wiped one watery eye, giving Ginny a very, very small smile.

"Now, I don't know what to do. I slept with him, _multiple times, _while he was with _her. _Not that I really care, she's a downright cow, but I truly had no idea and it makes everything so impossible. And then Cynric…"

"Let's forget about Astoria," Ginny frowned as Hermione winced at the name, "_her, _and tell me about Cynric. What happened there anyway?"

"He was just so _nice. _I don't know, I've thought about it before, you know, sleeping together, I mean. And then it happened and… at first it was odd, he is my professor! But then I thought of Malfoy, how we fight and how he'd feel if he found out…"

"I guarantee he'd feel a lot worse about you and Cynric than you feel about him and _her _because you actually like Cynric."

"I do not," Hermione objected.

But Ginny only smiled. "Oh yes you do. Your eyes lit up."

Hermione shook her head and Ginny's smiled widened. "'Mione, don't even bother denying it. I don't blame you, I've seen him around, too. I wish I had his class now, although Arithmancy is the subject from hell. Those beautiful pale green eyes, that smile, that _jaw… _how were his muscles and his – " Ginny was cut of by a light smack on the arm and she laughed. "Oh come on, I'm curious!"

Hermione's amused smile and sparkling eyes told Ginny that all was better for the time being and the discussion about all of Cynric's … parts… began.

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Draco looked at the invitation to Slughorn's Halloween dance on his desk and then back to him homework.

_Why was Slughorn such a … slug? _

That man surrounded himself with all the smartest kids in the school and they loved the attention.

_If you're so smart, why don't you see through his retardation? _

Draco had no intention of going until Pansy begged him. Blaise's grades weren't nearly as good as Draco's, so he wasn't a Slugclub favorite. After a half hour of incessant begging on Pansy's behalf, the finally let up just so he could sit in the Slytherin common room in peace.

Sitting in the shared common room wasn't a favorite past time of Draco's. Hermione's smell lingered whenever he came, and he knew she was there just minutes before. But no matter how fast he tried to get back to the room just so he could see her or talk to her this weekend, she was always gone. He knew she was avoiding him but he had no idea why. He ran a pale hand through his bleach blonde hair. It had grown so long, falling into his silver eyes, and he just flipped it to the side.

Now, in his dorm room, he knew there was no way he was going to be able to concentrate on any homework. Instead, he went down into the kitchen and boiled some water for some hot tea. He sat at the kitchen table, staring at the kettle, deeply consumed by his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed Hermione's figure walk up.

"Is there enough for two?" she said, wringing her hands slightly, standing at the edge of the table awkwardly.

Draco looked up and immediately his breath caught. "Uh, yes, of course," he said.

He couldn't understand why she was so intoxicating, in jeans and a huge, manly, flannel shirt. Barely any skin was showing, but it still showed off her figure phenomenally. With legs long as her, hips so mature and a waist so tiny, it was hard to wear anything that hid it.

_Besides those damn robes…_

His eyes raked over her body but she didn't seem to notice, staring at the kettle just as he had been, moments before.

The shrill cry of boiling water startled them both, and they simultaneously jumped up to turn it off.

"I'll do it," he said.

"No, it's fine, I got it," she said back.

"Hermione, sit, I'll make the tea," he said impatiently, and reached up to grab two cups.

"It's not like I'm incapable of making it myself," she mumbled.

He turned to look at her, with slight disbelief spelled on his face. "I never said you were."

She looked away from his gaze, as if it burned her. "I'm just saying. You don't always have to take care of me, I'm fine."

"If you're taking about Saturday and Sunday, don't. I couldn't just leave you there, and you clearly needed help. Either I did it, or I took you to the hospital wing." He noticed the distaste on her face. "I know how much you hate the fuss Madam Pomfrey always makes over you, so I figured I'd just deal with it."

"You didn't have to," she continued.

"Would you rather I took you to her?" he said.

His use of the word her sparked something within her. Ginny's derogatory use of the work came to mind.

"Why do you care anyway?"

"What?"

"You have enough to take care of."

His eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her, just as she took one backing away.

"Astoria's not a handful? Hm, I'd think her high maintenance Pureblood self would be."

Draco froze, from head to toe, and swallowed loudly. He _knew _Hermione had no idea about his relationship and he had no idea how she found out about him now. They were _never _together in public and she didn't talk to any Slytherins, or anyone that would know anything about Draco's life at all, actually.

"Hermione, she's just –"

"Your girlfriend. That you failed to mention you had," Hermione spat back, eyes on fire and hands on her hips.

"It doesn't matter – "

"_It doesn't matter? _Is that how you treat girls? I can't say I'm surprised. What matter then Draco, if not your girlfriend."

"What do you mean 'you're not surprised?' What did I ever do to you?" Draco shouted back, his face molding from sorry to angry in less than a second.

"Is that a joke? We _fucked_ and then you forgot I existed. I didn't realize how normal of an occurrence that must be for _the _Draco Malfoy."

At this point, they were face to face, chest to chest, as they always were when these fights started. Both parts were breathing heavily, eyes locked. Her amber eyes were swirling with something heated and his silver eyes morphed into dark grey.

It took Hermione a full minute to gather herself, pour some tea and stalk back upstairs with Draco, frozen, staring after her.

**A/N: Yay, you've read yet another chapter! Okay, I'm SO sorry, but I edited this in such a way that the preview I gave in the last chapter is not applicable to this chapter, but to the next one or maybe even one further. **

**But I can say… you'll only find out what happens at Slughorn's Halloween Party if you keep reading. It's a costume party… hmm what will Hermione wear? ;) **

**Reviews will give me superpowers to type faster and update more often! I promise you that! **

**Much love, **

**Roseknickersss**


	14. What A Sight

**I can only begin to apologize and hope you guys will forgive me for the long wait. **

**I'd answer all the wonderful reviews but I'm being overwhelmed by tiredness at the moment and am in a rush. **

**School's been a bitch and my emotions are on such a rollercoaster since it all started. Boys = trouble (in the real world).**

**I will, however, reply to your reviews in the next chapter, which will come quicker.**

**Keep reading, keep reviewing, keep making me smile and maybe I'll put a smile on Dramione's face as well. **

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Draco had really tried to get her of his mind. He even took Astoria out but after dinner he couldn't face it anymore and faked something about homework. If she was upset or suspected something, she hid it well.

Then again, she didn't care. Malfoy was Malfoy and Slytherins love money.

It's so ironic the way things turned out because Hermione didn't seem to have any issues keeping Draco off her kind. After her week of being sick she was out and about as always. She opted to do homework in the library and tended to disappear for hours at a time. Draco had taken to studying in the common room in hopes of catching glimpses of her, sparking a fight, some eye contact, Prefect duties...

She came in every night with a smile on her face and he looked away when he actually saw her. Someone put that smile there.

The only time they spend together was weekend Prefect rounds. But she insisted they split up to get it done faster. To stay together was the entire point of having the same duties at the same time and Hermione was usually one to stick to the rules, so Draco was left to believe something spurred inside her to make her hate him.

Why did she know about Astoria? Why did she care?

If she didn't care, they'd be fine, wouldn't they? Even hate is a show of emotion and it stupidly gave him hope.

It was the night before Slughorn's party and Draco very well knew Hermione was going. It was the only reason he was going.

He'd chosen to be a vampire. Draco wasn't one for going all out unless the party was his own. With his pristine pale complexion and strong build, all he really needed was to transform his incisors to fangs.

Draco had a book open on his lap, but wasn't paying any attention to it. Instead, his gaze was set in the fire. It reminded him of Hermione in every sense. Her fiery personally, how her eyes were always ablaze, the way she fought with him no doubt wishing she could set him on fire and how when they were together, they burned.

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Hermione was just exiting Cynrics room, tightening her robe around her frail figure and smiling to herself as always. Between studying, keeping up with Ginny and Cynric, there was no time for any stray thoughts in her mind. And that was the point here, wasn't it.

She was a Gryffindor. She was Harry Potter's best friend and a member of the Golden Trio. No one could _ever _find out about Malfoy, and it could _never _repeat.

_No matter how bad you want it? _

She tried to shake the thought out of her head it kept buzzing around.

It _was _only sexual attraction right, there was nothing else to Malfoy. It would make perfect sense if all thoughts of him went away know that Cynric was there relieving each and every single need she had.

_Not the way Malfoy had. _

She always listened to her brain, not her heart, but right now her brain was being downright stupid with these ridiculous remarks. It's as if it wanted her to give in and she couldn't do that.

She was Hermione Granger. She'd be damned if she couldn't control herself.

She entered the common room and let out a shaky breath noticing Draco was there as always. She headed upstairs before he could glance her way and smiled fondly down at the creation on her bed.

Slughorn's party was tomorrow night and Hermione loved the idea of dress up. She went trick or treating as much as humanely possible every single year back home and she'd certainly missed it here at Hogwarts. Although Halloween was still celebrated, for first and second years all that happened was a load of pranks while third years and up used it as an excuse to do the pranking and drink loads more than one should ever consume in one night. She couldn't help but be excited to dress up, just like the good old days.

The creation of her own making was mainly green. It had a tight forest green bodice with a green tulle that a had deep violet skirt seeping up from underneath it. Attached were translucent green wings and tomorrow night she'd transform her wooden wand into something more… fairyish.

She froze for a moment, wondering if the wizarding world was big on fairies but remembered a popular fairy tale she'd read some time ago about a good fairy and a bad fairy, as any tale, and smiled once again.

Thoroughly spend, from her habits both good and bad, studying and shagging, she magicked the dress into her closet and fell asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow.

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Today Hermione was in her room from the minute her last class of the day let out. Draco noticed the change immediately.

He'd spent his usual time in the common room, figuring his chances of bumping into her were greater, but there wasn't as much as a creak from her door.

At 7 he sighed deeply and went to go get ready for the Halloween party. He left his outgrown platinum hair shaddy as always, put on a black button down and rolled it up at the elbows. He loved wearing it that way as completely down felt too formal. Black dress pants and shoes joined the combination. He applied some Malfoy cologne, yes he made his own kind, and lastly charmed his teeth to look as if they belonged to a vampire. Happy with the results, he set out at around 745 to head down to the party in the basement.

That was when his breath caught.

Her long dark hair was in ringlets around her face.

_When did it get so long? _

Her petite frame was fit into a green and purple … dress (he guessed he could call it that) and on her feet were velvet nude platform pumps.

_Since when does she think heels are sensible? _

Her long tan legs went on for miles and seemed to shimmer, just as her legs and arms did.

_Was the point here to make him want to pounce on her?_

Her cheek points sparkled and shimmered, with that healthy glow as always.

_The fucking cheeks. _

Her long eyelashes rested on those cheeks and her eyes had been coated in silver glittery eye shadow.

She was drinking straight from a huge bottle of Svedka, and when she stopped and swallowed, the look on her face told him it wasn't pumpkin juice.

"What is that?" he heard himself call out.

Immediately her head snapped in his direction and the hand holding the bottle fell to her side.

Her cheeks flushed a deeper red and the dim light of the common room made everything about her glow.

"It's Muggle," was the short reply. She was moving to shove the bottle away somewhere but it was evident she didn't want him to know it's whereabouts.

"It doesn't look the pumpkin juice type," he commented, striding towards her, hands trying to uphold the eye contact.

It was hard to focus on one phenomenal aspect of her, those _fiery_ eyes when everywhere else was too delicious to not drink in.

"It's not," she replied, her breath hitching at the end.

He motioned for the bottle and surprisingly, she handed it over without a fuss. He gulped down as much as he'd seen her take and ended up with what he knew was a similar look on his face.

"Equally buzzed then?" he said.

It was meant to make her smile, to make some peace. She did, but the smile was wry.

"Always drunk," she said, her lips shaping her words as she enunciated them.

The bottle disappeared from her hands and she walked out of the room. He followed her at a close distance.

He couldn't help but take in her essence with the gift of proximity he's been given.

**A/N: I love you all for reading it's greatly appreciated. Excuse the long wait but give me more inspiration and ambition to write. It sounds hard to do but a simple review is a never failing trick. I love the usual reviewers, you guys are a god send. I welcome, and plead (I'm begging here) for new ones. **

**I won't give a preview, but I will pose a question.**

**What happens when the consumption of alcohol is at an all time high for our lovely heroine and sexy hero? **


	15. Fairylicious

**I love you guys sooooooo muuuuuuuuuch and I love how quick the reviews came in (: **

**I'm replying to them all now, old chapter's reviews separated from the last chapter's reviews by a / so here you go:**

**Alijandra's Editor ****– I can't even tell you how much I love your reviews and enthusiasm! (: / Honestly with your enthusiasm I really don't care about any typos I love all your reviews! And oh god it's so true how vodka swallows fear**

**Lizziegurl15 – Haha tension and suspension is what I live for! / hehe drinking leads to fun in this world and in the real world**

**witchmae135 – I find it harder and harder to upload during the week but I'm doing my best! **

**Irish Thorn – Oh but Cynric is young and H O T ! / hehe, you'll like this chapter **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Gah I'm so sorry that preview isn't going to be for another chapter or two but she is kissing some dark eyed stranger ;) / You seem to know drunk Dramione very well! **

**simplykeepsmiling – Thanks for taking the time to review and I'm so glad you like it :D **

**Gin-gin06 – Haha, it's fine. Belieeeeeeve me I know how much school gets in the way. Draco is literally the sexiest thing on this planet :)**

** BelleBelles – Isn't hot drunken sex the best?**

**MissChievous12 – Thanks for the review, updating as fast as I can!**

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Draco was a few steps behind the fast paced Hermione till they ran into Theodore Nott.

"Nott," Draco said, nodding to the fellow Slytherin.

"Malfoy," he boy replied.

Hermione smiled politely and was more than a little surprised when Theodore not only addressed her but complimented her.

"Good evening Ms. Granger," came Theo's polite, aristocratic voice.

"Good evening Theodore," she replied, trying to cover her surprise but failed with her high pitched voice.

"You look quite lovely, is that your own creation?"

"Actually it is, thanks for noticing." Boys never paid attention to things like these.

The two fell step in step all the way down to the dungeon and Draco was a few steps behind again.

It continued this way till they reached the party. Theo and Hermione had actually gotten talking and Draco was fuming behind them. He also couldn't help noticing the way her hips swung when she walked and with every step she took her skirt bounced, revealing more of what he wanted to see.

"Ah Ms. Granger. What an exquisite fairy you make! You know they're known to be signs of wisdom in the wizarding world? It's very fitting," Slughorn's smiling face greeted her.

"Thank you Professor, although I don't think my book smarts are nearly equivalent to any level of wisdom you may have," she replied, smiling meekly and blushing as always.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the platinum blonde mop of hair looking at her and focused on what Slughorn was saying yet again.

"…But of course you'd know that, wouldn't you?" the Professor said.

"Sorry could you repeat that?"

"Fairies and vampires, their connection?"

"What?" she said, managing to keep an even tone even if her surprise was evident.

"Well it's a common fact that fairies kept the vampires alive and breathing, otherwise, how else would they come back to life? In return, a vampire bite to a fairy magnifies her power. It was in Beedle's Bedtime Stories, you've never read it?"

"Sorry no, I grew up in the Muggle world. Excuse me," Hermione said, rushing away from Slughorn and to the privacy of the girls' bathroom.

Hermione looked at her reflection and tried calculating the odds of this happening to her. She thought fairies were nice and innocent and mainly a Muggle thing but clearly, somehow they were more significant in the wizarding world. To vampires. Which is exactly what Draco was tonight.

What _were _the odds? It's as if the universe hated her.

_Its just trying to point out the blatantly obvious. _

She shooed the thought from her head and began to fix her mascara. She looked better than usual, she knew that, and Theodore's comment had been an extra boost to her ego. She couldn't think of the last time a Slytherin complimented a Gryffindork, much less part of the Holy Trinity.

About two seconds before she walked out of the bathroom, a redheaded girl came barreling straight for her and pushed her back in.

"Why does Draco still look like a sad puppy?" Ginny demanded.

"Gin!" Hermione quickly silenced the both of them and thanked Merlin the bathroom was empty besides them.

"I thought you said you fixed everything," Ginny continued.

"We're not fighting," Hermione defended herself.

"He's drinking himself into a state. It's a good think Slughorn's too focused on all the tits and ass walking around to notice that's not pumpkin juice."

"Gin!"

"Oh we all know he's an old pervert, calm down 'Mione. Oh and another thing."

"Yes?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes at this crazy girl she called her best friend.

"If you're trying to end up good terms with Draco darling, don't flirt with his friends."

"I-" was all Hermione got to say before Ginny cut her off.

"Don't even start. Theodore Nott and Hermione Granger both walking in pink faced with laughter is not something to go by unnoticed. Keep that in mind whenever you see Draco sulking. Youuuuuuur fault," Ginny said in a sing song voice, leaving Hermione confused in the bathroom.

But she convinced herself Draco just wasn't getting enough from Astoria and went out to the party once more.

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Five shots in and Draco's eyes were glued to her. It was a mess if anyone else saw, but really, at this point, he didn't care. He only hoped he didn't do something stupid but with his sixth shot that worry faded.

"Draco what _are _you doing? You've been sitting here all night," Pansy's high voice asked him.

She was in a pink gown and Draco couldn't help but compare her to Granger. Pansy was always too girly, too high pitched, too high maintenance and Hermione was never any of those things.

There was always this comparison in his head, between Hermione and every other person he came in contact with.

Granger always won.

"What?" he replied, staring blankly at her.

"Merlin, Malfoy, what have you been drinking? You never drink. What's wrong?"

Damn that girl intuition.

"Don't want to be here, remember," he lied smoothly, then hiccupped. "Now I'd appreciate if you let me sulk in peace."

It was after she walked away that he caught Granger's eye. She was sitting across the room, laughing whole heartedly _again _at something stupit Nott said but she was looking at _him. _

He froze and swallowed, his mouth parting slightly and he could feel his own blush this time.

She looked down, her own cheeks aflame and he ripped his eyes away from her. When they rose to meet hers again, magnetically, her mouth was parted and he somehow knew her mind was far from whatever Nott was saying. Then he noticed Theo offer her something and her cup was refilled with something from his silver flask at her nod.

_Well if it isn't Hermione Granger, drinking at a Professor's party. _

It was kind of hot, actually. No, it was sexy. She was the top student, she was the know-it-all. She was perfectly centered around her morals, that for some two weeks in Cancun, flew out the window.

She was gorgeous. She was wearing something innocent and made it look sinful. She was drinking and she she gulped it down, she looked at him.

It was impossible to tell how much time had gone by, maybe two hours or maybe three, but he saw her edging towards the door, eyes locked with his.

Draco followed, not offering anyone a goodbye and never looking back.

She looked back, once they were both out of the party and in the dark corridor, and her eyes met his yet again. She kept walking till they both reached their portrait hole and as soon as it was shut, he flung her against it.

His lips crashed down on hers so hard she was sure they were bruised. Once she came up for air he pried his way in and they wrestled tongues for dominance, as always. His hands roamed her bodice and he pulled the straps off and pushed it down till her breasts, hidden behind her lacy green bra were exposed to him.

"Sweet Merlin," he gasped, looking down at the color.

He felt her smirk as she kissed his forehead, his nose, his jaw and then their lips collided once again with a _need. _

The fervor was animalistic at best and she tore his black shirt open.

The wand stuck in a garter under her skirt crashed to the ground and the skin to skin contact was enraging every single cell on Draco's body.

"Hermione…" he moaned out, against her neck and was rewarded with a shudder throughout her entire body.

His hand wound it's way under her skirt and into her knickers. She cried out in sheer pleasure at his touch and it inspired him to pump her faster.

"Oh…dear…Lord…more, please!" Hermione was begging for more and immediately got what she wanted.

Her actions matched his as she managed to undo his pants and drop them to the floor while writhing against the portrait. He wrapped her legs around his waist and he stepped out of his pants and towards the coach. Before they even made it there, Hermione hopped off him and pulled him to the ground with her.

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**You're really only getting the rest of this scene and what happens (something does!) if you review nice and fast! I love lots of reviews, too! I woke up to so many this morning, I can't even tell you how happy I was :D I love you all so much, keep reading it's highly appreciated. **

**Hope you like Draco's seeeeeeeeeeeexyness ;) **


	16. Breakfast

**So, I am LOVING the quick reviews and there's more and more of them :D You guys are all really too sweet! Also, I appreciate criticisms and suggestions – **_**I want to know what you want to see. **_**I'll always take what everyone says into consideration. **

**Now: **

** secretswritethemselves – Hey! New Reviewer! Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm actually a few chapters ahead now so expect quick updates for a little :D **

** ReagenNeverwas –Woo! Another new reviewer :D Haha, has anyone else noticed that Hermione's more Slytherin and Draco's more Gryffindor… I just noticed myself. **

**lizziegurl15 – Honestly, every review means the world to me. If you knew me, you'd know I freak out over everyone to my friends and just in general. I love you guys :D Btw, another reviewer asked me to tell you they love your stories as well but you never finished **_**My Best Summer **_**and they'd love to see it completed. Just letting you know!**

** BelleBelles – Hehe, I'm sorry but I love keeping you guys in suspense! **

** MissChievous12 – I try my best. I've been in my writing moods a lot recently so I've got more chapters up my sleeve. **

** JaspersEmotionalGirl – Why thank you! I think Hermione and Draco's sexy connection is enough for them to get married and have babies though. Just based on their sexiness. **

** Shy-Yellow-Badger – Woop! Another newbie :D I'll be making chapters longer if I get enough inspiration from you guys! **

** Gin-gin06 – Ya gotta keep in mind Theo is HOT, even though I didn't mention that yet. I shall soon enough! **

** simplykeepsmiling – Here you go!**

** witchmae135 – Haha, more threats coming… :D **

**To all you anon reviewers, thanks for the feedback and keep reviewing! **

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Draco's barely clothed body was grinding frantically against Hermione's and his frustration was truly getting the best of him. Adrenaline pumping, he ripped her entire costume straight off her and she gasped at the gesture.

After a second of breathlessness, she lifted her head off the ground and dress forgotten, they were back to desperately kissing.

His hands were all over her body and she moved under him, pleading for more contact and grabbing at his hair in frustration. He responded by biting into her shoulder and she cried out.

"Draco! Merlin, fangs, ungh, mmm," her scream faded into moans as he licked over the wound and then her hand touched his _throbbing _manhood. He'd had enough of the teasing.

Never breaking contact, Draco understood the need and pulled off her knickers but before giving her exactly what she wanted, his eyes hooked on hers.

It didn't take much self-control to stop his vicious self that nearly consumed him just moments before and shift her in a more comfortable position underneath him. Her eyes were ablaze, the way he loved them, with fire beneath them. Her hair was sprawled under her in all directions and he caught sight of a second hole and two cartilage piercings that weren't there the last time she was in this position. Her cheeks were flushing monumentally but as much as it turned him on, he wished to do nothing more than make her moan out his name in satisfaction.

So he slid into her slowly, making sure to never break eye contact and somehow, she knew not to look away. Even as she moaned in pleasure and her back arched, she still scanned his eyes, hungry for more but curious. She began moving under him, he only sped up enough to satisfy _her_, as if his body didn't have any wants.

Hermione's hands reached to grab his, and he took her small, warm, soft palms into his own larger ones, cold as ice but sheen with a coat of sweat. Draco squeezed her hands as she rode over the edge, moaning his name and just the look she gave him drove him over the edge.

Draco collapsed on her as they both tried to catch their breath and soon both were knocked out.

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Hermione awoke, naked, except for her bra with a naked Draco Malfoy on top of her. Her first reaction was to freeze, then bolt, but she remembered last night perfectly. It was odd, considering how much they'd both had to drink, but the look in his eyes haunted her.

He looked so broken, so careful, but _so_ in need. He never gave in to the third part though, treated her as he'd never treated her before. She lightly stroked his bangs from his eyes before she even realized what she was doing and relaxed under him.

It reminded her of the warm nights spent in Cancun that had lots of laughter and intelligent conversations amongst meaningless fights that _always _ended in sex. It's as if Hogwarts had some sort of spell over her that reminded her she couldn't do that here.

But what was keeping her? He'd done nothing wrong last night had he? She had no reason to bolt and before she was able to reconsider, he stirred from his sleep.

His pale blue eyes immediately looked up at her and his lips curved up into a small smile, noticing she was awake. His head settled back on her stomach and she continued stroking his hair.

"You're not yelling at me," he mumbled at last and she almost chuckled allowed at his soft voice.

"I can't," she replied.

He looked up at her again and saw her smile. He moved up to kiss her and she let him. He charmed a blanket on top of them both with wand less magic and her smile got bigger.

"I don't know why I'm doing this," she confessed.

"It's okay," he said, snuggling closer to her, "you don't have to."

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"I made you toast," Draco said, as Hermione made her way downstairs on Monday morning.

The weekend left Hermione smiling and Draco _not _brooding. It was all very unusual; as was Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, making Hermione Granger, Gryffindor's Sweetheart, breakfast.

"I have eggs but I remembered you don't like them," he said. "So I kinda made everything else."

When she stepped into the kitchen, she noticed this was true. There were pancakes, muffins, cereal, and bacon strips laid out.

She couldn't help but laugh and kiss Draco, pushing him against the counter. His smell in the morning was so much stronger than he'd ever worn it. It was the intoxicating scent of him and she would drown in it if she could. He was in his school robes but her small hands slipped inside them and around his waist as he lifted her slender body up and placed her on the counter. Settling between her legs he continued kissing her, moving from her lips to her nose, jaw, forehead, neck and the back to her lips.

He quickly realized how stupid he'd been.

Her lips were so full and swollen and gorgeous, they didn't compare to her cheeks. But if you looked into her eyes, not as fiery as always but full of pure glee, they captivated you. Every one of her features was incomparable to the next and he ended up his staring at her, ended in another bout of full laughter.

Draco heard it all weekend but he wasn't even close to being sick of it.

Hermione's curls were swept up into a high ponytail with a few loose tendrils around her face. He tucked one behind her ear and kissed her again.

"Stop that, I need to eat," she said, flashing another huge smile his way.

He grinned right back up at her. "Then go get some food," he said, without moving out from in between her legs.

She laughed again and kissed him.

It wouldn't have ended, but she looked at her watch and tried giving him a stern look but failed, laughing again. She ended up pushing him back gently, hopping off and grabbing a muffin.

"We're gonna have to give all that food back."

"Don't worry, Pinky can leave it in the common rooms for some late stragglers," Draco assured her.

"Please don't do anything stupid today," she asked him before heading out to her first class.

"I can't promise that," he answered, his smile turning wicked for a second.

"Draco!" she shrieked, but the smile _still _hadn't left her face.

She walked back to him, putting both her hands gently on his chest. "No one can find out about this."

"I know," he said, smile briefly leaving his face before he kissed her for the last time that morning.

With that, she turned to leave with a bounce in her step and he wondered how he was going to keep all thoughts of shredding her uniform out of his head and the classes they shared.

**A/N: As I always say, reviews keep the updates updating quicker! Now, for the next chapter to come up… I'm asking for 20 reviews :D That's less than double what I got on the last chapter in just a day or two. So, if you **_**are **_**reading, please take the time to review. All reviews are welcome! **

**P.S. School sucksssssssssssssssssssss**


	17. Pansy's Intuition

**Guys – you are so lucky I love you otherwise you'd never **_**ever **_**get another chapter. I'm actually really disappointed that I couldn't even get 20 reviews on the last chapter… only 18. Thanks to everyone who did review though, I am grateful to each and every review. Here's my responses as usual:**

**witchmae135 – Haha, I do but I love to hear feedback on individual chapters and criticism as well (: **

**ReagenNeverwas – Heh heh, we shall just see about that! I can promise it gets… heated. **

**Blinky – Thanks! But in all seriousness, I think reviews help me breathe. It's not even that I love them but I **_**need **_**them to survive. Okay, I'm being corny. Suggestion duly noted and already fitted into some chapters ahead in my own way…**

**Simplykeepsmiling – Your review made me smile (: **

**Irish Thorn – They're cute even if I do say so myself! **

**LunaLlama9 – You have a good sense for suspense! **

**BelleBelles – Read on to find out… the problem arises below :D **

**Shy-Yellow-Badger – Jealous Draco is a delicacy I loved inventing… in future chapters ;) **

**Anon- You're right, Astoria's unnecessary… we'll see. Who votes they break up?**

**Cgh – Mwahaha, who said I'm nice? I love evil people… like Draco ;)**

**KLGomez – Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you like (: **

**Anon – Updating awayyyyyyyyyy! **

**Elephantsneverforget – Whooooooohoo new reader! I love you guys (: **

**JaspersEmotionalGirl – Hehe, well cheesiness was intended **

**MissChievous12 – I'd spoil my readers everyday if they reviewed enough to get to update faster and faster! School… let's not talk about that… eek **

** – Haha, well next chapter coming right up! **

**lizziegurl15 – No problem and if you love action, you're going to love me for the next few chapters…**

**secretswritethemselves – Haha, well how could you disagree? Are you a junior or senior cause chemistry is not an AP I'd ever take… sciences and maths are so bleeeeeeeeeeeeh **

**Okay, donezo so, without further ado, HERE YA GOOOOOOO! **

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It all felt so sweet to Hermione. She just couldn't share it with anyone... Besides Ginny who had bounded up to her between classes because she'd seem Draco smile.

Apparently it was breaking news that a Slytherin was actually smiling.

The only thing that got to Hermione by lunchtime was Astoria. The bitch was only in one class that Hermione had with Draco but, regardless, an hour of watching her on top of him was driving Hermione slightly out of her mind. The third time Astoria caught Hermione's eye she sent a sneer her way and the cold look Draco gave her instilled chills.

She knew it was just for show but she couldn't help feeling rejected. She didn't look his way at all at lunch as punishment. It was only till she got to Arithmancy that she noticed the new problem at hand.

Cynric.

She'd never actually thought of how this would all end, but from the minute she laid eyes on him the wheels in her mind were working.

She knew if she flat out ended it or rejected him there'd be a chance her grades would plummet. He'd be harsh towards her, he'd be hurt. But she didn't want to do that. Besides, Draco was still "with" Astoria, as much as he spent all of Saturday assuring her it was a business deal between his father and hers.

Hermione decided the only way to do this was to tell Cynric she thought one of her friends was catching on so they needed to tone it down for a while and be more careful.

That just meant she'd be seeing him a lot less than usual and she gave herself more time to think of a better solution.

After everyone had left at the end of class, she did just that and a slightly panicked Cynric enthusiastically agreed. She knew a first year teacher wouldn't want the reputation of being fired for having an affair with a student.

She smirked when she turned to leave his room but her smirk faded quickly as she realized she needed better reasoning to uphold her sudden decision to see less of Cynric. She also knew that the only people capable of such manipulative ideas were Slytherins.

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Draco was trying to eat his steak but Astoria's groping hands were making that very impossible.

"Astoria, SWEETIE, do you think you could let me eat by myself for a minute?" he said, through clenched teeth.

She didn't seem to notice his anger but obliged and turned towards the sister to shriek mindlessly over god knows what. Pansy had noticed the anger though and she was staring at him as Blaise kissed her neck.

Her face brightened and she kissed Blaise back.

Draco sighed sincerely wishing he had it easy. But he knew that, as a Malfoy, easiness bored him so it was probably better this way.

He couldn't help, however, staring off in her direction and noticing her laughing with Ron and Neville. Ginny and Luna didn't exist in his eyes; they weren't threats.

The only thing that really bothered him was the moment he heard her shriek "HARRY" and run across the entire Great Hall to jump on and hug the boy who never died.

Draco swallowed his protests and jabbed a fork into his chicken.

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Later that evening Draco decided to sit in the Slytherin common room opposed to going back to his own because he knew Harry, Ron and Hermione would be catching up. If Harry was there, Ginny, George, Neville and Luna were definitely there. All he needed was a room full of Gryffindors, and way too many Weasleys.

Astoria, by some mysterious streak of luck, had snuck out with Daphne. However, to his disadvantage, Blaise was also gone, working out somewhere with Goyle so he was stuck with Pansy.

And Pansy, as snotty, rich, girly and crazy as she was, was too perceptive for his liking.

"What is going _on?" _she asked for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Noth-" Draco stopped when he saw the look on her face and breathed heavily, looking back at the book in his lap. "Everything's fine, I don't understand what you're asking me."

"I'm not saying it's not fine, Draco, but something is definitely going on. You were happy, then depressed, then angry, then depressed, now happy, I mean you're actually _smiling. _What the fuck Drake?"

"I can't smile?"

"Not without an explanation."

"Well that's mental of you to say."

"If you saw me walking around smiling like a freak you'd ask what was going on too and you know it," she countered.

"You already do."

"Okay but you know the reason for that."

Yes, he did. How could he miss the fact that Blaise made her smile like a Hufflepuff every single day when they were always making out in front of him?

"Well how could I not…"

"Shut up, this is about you. Who is she?"

He looked up at her and squinted his eyes.

"Oh come on, you haven't liked Astoria…" she trailed off trying to think back, "ever actually," she decided.

"Pans, I'm not saying anything."

"Aha! So there is someone," she squealed enthusiastically.

His eyes flew open. "What? But I didn't say anything!"

"Yes, but by not saying anything you said it all."

"You're insane."

"But you love me anyway."

He glared at her.

"Look, I don't need mopey, icky Draco to come back anytime soon." She leaned on her lap and looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm here for you for _whatever_ you need. You deserve to smile."

He knew she just felt guilty that she and Blaise were constantly on top of each other, laughing and forgetting about the past, the war and their families.

It wasn't that easy for Draco.

But it seemed to be getting better and Pansy was going to do her best to keep him smiling because that's what sisters do, isn't it?

"You're creepy when you're nice," he said at last, leaning back into his seat and opening up his book again.

"Like I said, you love me," she said, hopping up and walking off to her dorm.

Draco shook his head looking after her and chuckled lightly at how much his life turned around.

Up until 5th year, all Slytherins were as malicious, competitive and fake as you could get. No one was considered your friend, they were clique-y, they were mean. But ever since he was forced to be a Death Eater 6th year, Blaise stood by him. Pansy and Blaise began dating, knowing that it was either now or never, and by default she became a sisterly figure to Draco. All the feelings she'd ever had for him came second to this new friendship and soon all was forgotten. He'd never wanted to let either of them in, but it was hard when there was no one else to trust. They really were the best friends one could ask for, and Draco knew he loved them deep down.

But they'd all be married with kids before he ever admitted it.

**A/N: So that's all for now but the next chapters are ready to be updated so, I'll try this again. 20 reviews and the minute I get the 20****th**** one, the next chapter comes up. And it's a gooood one. **

**Let me prove it to ya; Teaser: **

"_**Harry's a hot commodity, huh?" he commented.**_

"_**What do you mean?" Hermione said.**_

_**She was still in her Gryffindor uniform, but her heavy winter robe had been lost sometime between when she entered the tower after dinner and now.**_

"_**As soon as one girl leaves his room, another enters. I'm jealous," the platinum blonde haired boy couldn't help saying. **_

**Magic number: 20! (: **

**XX,**

**Roseknickersss**


	18. The Trio

**So I'm not going to respond to every review this time because I didn't even get anywhere near 20. But to those of you that always respond, no matter what, I love you :D **

"So what have you been up to anyways?" Hermione asked Harry. She was helping him unpack into one of the extra rooms in the tower she shared with Draco. Harry was actually going to be staying for a whole week, much to Draco's chagrin, and McGonagall had allowed him to camp out there.

"Well, my Auror training is almost done, so soon I'll be full fledged and helping the ministry," he said, charming the contents of his suitcase to land where they needed to go.

"Be careful, okay?"

Harry laughed at Hermione's concern heartily. "'Mione, you do realize that it _was_ the three of us that defeated the world's most dangerous Dark wizard and, in doing so, saved the wizarding world from it's most lethal weapon?"

Hermione's mouth curved into a smile despite her attempt to look stern and her folded hands dropped to her sides.

"Oh hush, you know very well what I mean Harry. Don't get yourself killed."

"I'll try," he replied.

"Harry!"

"I won't, I promise I'll be careful," he amended and she dropped the subject.

"How have things here been anyways?" Harry asked, taking a seat on his bed and Hermione busied herself folding his clothes. The charm had just sorted them into the right drawers, but completely knocked them off their stacks and into a jumbled mess.

Messy was not Hermione's forte.

"It's been that same as always. I've been studying like crazy for N.E.W.T.s, Ron's been talking with his mouth full, Ginny's been keeping me up on each and every detail of this school's most recent drama… she's been missing you, you know."

"I know, I miss her, too. I write to her everyday and I do come and visit her some nights, I'm surprised she hasn't slipped that to you, actually," Harry said, slowing down on the last part in genuine surprise at stumbling across this fact.

Hermione's hands froze but before Harry could notice, she ducked her burning face behind her mane of waves and continued to fold clothes. "There's just been a lot on both our minds, I guess."

"Yeah but love lives are Ginny's favorite. If she's not talking about her own all the time, something of equal interest must be taking up her attention."

Hermione cleared the lump in her throat and pushed the burning itch to tell Harry everything far, far away.

"Harry, you do realize I bury myself in books and I'm not Ginny's only friend? I'm sure Lavender and the Patil twins know all about it."

Harry gave her a curious look.

"Ginny doesn't talk to them anymore. It's basically Isabelle and Macy these days."

"Macy… right," Hermione said slowly, putting a finger to her lip, trying to assess what Harry had just said.

For as long as Hermione knew Ginny, the twins and Lavender had been her number one companions, besides herself.

Now they didn't even talk?

She had really been missing out on a lot since everything with Draco had happened. Her own friends had taken a backseat to her dramatic love life. Some changes were going to have to happen.

"… anything ever happen there?"

"Sorry Harry, didn't catch that," Hermione said.

"You and Ron, I mean," he said. "Did anything ever happen there?"

Truthfully, it wasn't as though she'd never thought of Ron that way. But those emotions were fleeting and, as of now, nonexistent.

"It'd be nice if you two finally got together, you know," Harry pressed on and Hermione's head snapped up.

"Excuse me? Finally? Harry that's not happening," Hermione stated. "I don't feel that way," she said quickly.

"Who's the other guy?"

"What?" she said, trying to play it off in an innocent voice but she knew her burning cheeks were giving her away.

"Fine," Harry said, smiling, "don't tell me. But I'll find out."

"Merlin, I hope not," she said more to herself than Harry and he had to ask her to repeat what she'd said.

"Nothing, there's just nothing to find out," Hermione responded.

"Tell Ron," Harry said, after a slight pause.

"About?" she said, straightening up from the wardrobe and sat on the bed next to him.

"He thinks you want him like he wants you."

"How are you so sure he wants me to begin with?"

He raised an eyebrow at this. "Were you there with us for these past 8 years or is it just my imagination?"

"It's _not _that obvious, otherwise I'd have picked up on it."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't. You are the brightest witch of our age, you know," he teased.

"Believe me, not in this category," she wryly commented.

Harry raised his eyebrow again, noticing the tension in between the words.

"Well Hermione, believe me, you want to tell him before he finds out some other way. He _is _your best friend."

"That's true… I guess."

"It's true and you know it. I don't want to see him crushed."

"I know," Hermione said.

"But it's his love life, not mine, so… you should tell me who the mystery guy is."

"Harry, I never said there was a mystery guy."

"But your cheeks turned beet red, Hermione you could never lie."

"Harry-" but she was cut off a knock on the door and Ginny's smiling face.

Thank Merlin.

"Mind if I interrupt?" Ginny asked.

"Not at all," Hermione answered, "I was just leaving anyway."

With that, she walked towards the door and looked back at the two with a smile.

_Oh boy. _

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Downstairs, Malfoy was sitting by the fire patiently.

"Harry's a hot commodity, huh?" he commented.

"What do you mean?" Hermione said.

She was still in her Gryffindor uniform, but her heavy winter robe had been lost sometime between when she entered the tower after dinner and now.

"As soon as one girl leaves his room, another enters. I'm jealous," the platinum blonde haired boy couldn't help saying.

"Oh Draco, it's not like that," she said. "You know better than to think that."

"But do I? I don't know anything about you and Harry or you and Ron. And judging from the rumors flying around this school about the Golden Trio, I should be worried."

Hermione smiled at his face, lined with jealousy. She approached him, sitting on the sofa, and ran a hand through his hair, pressing herself between his legs.

"_Nothing _ever happened," she assured him in a low voice, dropping her eyes to look into his. "_Nothing _to worry about."

His face morphed into one of desire, the change from nonchalant Hermione to seductress taking an effect on his body. He opened his mouth to speak but she lowered her lips to his ear.

"Your room?" she whispered and he could only nod frantically in response.

**A/N: Okay so that's that (: Another preview…**

"_**I think we're gonna need a silencing charm," he said, muttering it wandlessly and she only groaned against his chest. **_


	19. Bedtime

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 19. I can't believe I've gotten this far and still going. I always start things and rarely end up finishing them but like I always say, with the right inspiration, I shall. **

**Too****lazy****to****log****in**** – ****Ahaha****I****know****the****feeling****and****I****'****ll****try****to****keep****it****Hogwarts****oriented.****Thanks****for****the****reviews!**

**JaspersEmotionalGirl**** – ****Teasers****aren****'****t****meant****to****be****trusted!****Lol****/****And****yes,****but****Harry****finding****out****wouldn****'****t****be****pretty****would****it****lol**

**bullsharkronaldo9 (this was in response to chapter 1) – I think my chapters have been getting longer by my word count so I hope you enjoy that. Thanks for the review and hmm… Malfoy family drama is always fun, I'll think about it. **

**Shy-Yellow-Badger – Well y'know in J.K.'s books everything's in the perspective of the Gryffindors and the Slytherins are all evil… but I think we need to remember that they're still teenagers, not cold hearted adults, and they still have drama and friendships and hearts, they're like Regina George bitchy sometimes, lol. **

**Gin-gin06 – Haha glad you like her! Harry would flip if he knew, wouldn't he...? (: **

**secrets are meant to be kept – Lol of course I'll sleep write, it's what all us writers do! Thanks for the compliment, I try! And wah I really need a beta, I don't catch these mistakes in my own writing because I always check it so fast ): Must. Learn. To. Be. More. Crucial. **

**Simplykeepsmiling – Hehe, glad my story has you in suspense! **

**Laffytgirl – I'll try to write more! Ah writing and school and everything's piling up ): I'll probably keep developing everyone else's characters more because that's just the way I like to write. Ahhhh! I'm glad you think my fanfic has a twist to it, love ya! **

**Alijandra's****Editor**** – ****I****love****you!****Next****chapter****comin****right****up!**

**witchmae135**** – ****aw****but****where****would****the****fun****in****making****her****and****Draco****public****be?**

**Catuhh – I'll try my best! **

**Victoria**** – ****Hehe,****he**___**can**___**be****adorable.**

**DBM33 – Yayayay! Glad you like it! **

**MySweetEclipse – Aw, I'm such a Dramione fan I find any story easy to enjoy because I just love them. But thanks so much! **

**23Nelly – Well she's a 17 year old girl, she has the right to be insane lol. And we'll see… (: **

**AllWasWell07 – Glad you like it! And she just had a slight magical malady as Draco's charm detected. **

**LadyLilyAshley – Thank you, thank you! Keep reading and reviewing (: **

**lizziegurl15 – Lol thanks, I can always count on you (:**

**elephantsneverforget – Lol Draco himself makes my heart do flip flops **

**A Golden Rose6 – Why thank you! **

**ReagenNeverwas – Aha, thank you! I try! **

**Sammyyyconleyyy – Aw I always do that with other fanfics. I'm glad someone reads mine all night! (: **

**padfootsgrl79 – Lmao I think Ron would have a coronary! **

**greatEXpectationz – Haha, here you go! **

**Luck O' The Irish Seamione – Lol aw glad you like it! I try to update regularly (: **

**Okay and now, without further ado… enjoy! (: **

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Hermione slipped into Draco's room 10 minutes later, in black shorts and a barely there dark red tank top. It was amazing how good her breasts looked without a bra on, and Draco's body was fully aware only seconds after she entered the room.

He himself was stripped down to his emerald boxers, laying on his bed, patiently. She giggled when she saw him.

"I love how we sport our school colors in our sleep," she said.

"It's adorable on you," he replied, and gave her a breathy smile. But his eyes raked her body, combing through it, wanting to devour it. She sensed his urgency but had ideas of her own.

"I take it I can spend the night? I don't think wandering around at 3 A.M. while Harry and Ginny are basically next door is a good idea," she reasoned, and he nodded. She smiled.

Her smile was so bright, innocent and breathtaking. He felt wrong for wanting to fuck her into the bed but he couldn't help it. He sat up and as she neared the bed, his hands rested on her hips.

"Draco?"

"Yes, love?"

Her lips fell apart at the word _love_and her eyes searched his face. She breathed heavily as his hands wandered around her waist and licked her pouty lips, since they have become dry. His cock twitched watching her and she swallowed, knowing what was coming.

It was as if every fiber of her being wanted it, needed it, couldn't wait for it at that very moment. But, she needed to control herself or it'd all be over too soon. This was the fight she had with herself every time his icy eyes landed on her fiery ones and she was ready and wet just like that.

"Draco," she said again, sighing as she felt him react at her voice against her thigh, "I want you to tell me what you want to do to me."

He nearly moaned at her words, said in that sensual voice she saved for him. Hermione wasn't only educated outside the bed but in it. She wasn't always this daring though, and he loved every second of surprises she held for him.

Draco stared into her eyes, mentally begging for a sign of how he was supposed to go about this. They were dark with need and he adhered to that.

"Hermione," he whispered and she shivered. He ran a hand up her thigh while his other rested on her hip.

"I want to make you scream, very loud, and I know how," he continued, his hand sliding up the inside of her thigh now, making her tremble uncontrollably as she bit back a moan. Her shorts were on the floor. She panted as his hand made its way onto where she needed it most and bucked against it, losing control for a minute.

He pressed his head against her waist and continued the thought. "It turns me on when you're writhing, _contorting,_under me. I love that, and I can do it to you." He pressed two fingers into her, through her panties. They were soaked inside out now. He pressed a kiss to her abdomen and ripped the panties off without warning, lovely as they were.

"Ungh," she moaned and panted, her knees weakening. His head dipped and joined his fingers, sucking her clit slowly, painfully.

Hermione thrust against his face, her hands gripping his soft, platinum hair and forcing him to suck harder. His teeth grazed over her clit and she gasped loudly, juiced trailing down her thigh. One of her straps was falling off her shoulder but she didn't notice, concentrating on standing.

But it was only a few seconds before his tongue swirling in time to his maddeningly talented and large fingers pounding in her made her vision blue. Her world stopped. Her nerves turned to fire and her senses abandoned her. She screamed.

He lapped up the rest of her orgasm as she collapsed onto his chest and pushed him back onto the bed, trying to catch her breath.

"I think we're gonna need a silencing charm," he said, muttering it wandlessly and she only groaned against his chest.

"Your turn," she said, sliding off of him and onto the floor.

"What?" but she interrupted everything else running through his head as her nimble hands pulled the boxers away from his throbbing cock. She locked it. It was big and wide, proportionate. When he thrust it in her, she felt full and whole. It was a feeling she cherished. But that would come after he screamed her name endlessly.

Before he could protest, knowing he'd come quickly with the work of her mouth, her hands was pumping fast and his breathing had turned to heavy pants.

"Oh Merlin," he moaned, his back arching slightly, pushing himself closer to her.

He was ready to burst, Hermione could see that, twitching and throbbing as always.

"Say my name," she said, knowing the task was impossible for someone as incoherent as Draco was right now.

His hands grabbed her hair, and she moaned at the show of his need. He groaned and let out an intelligible sound. She breathed on his cock, hotly, and he nearly screamed.

"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione," he moaned over and over.

That's when her hot, wet mouth engulfed as much as it could, and pumped up and down, her hand around everything that couldn't fit. Just when he thought he was done, she deep throated him and every part of his seed shot deep down her throat. She swallowed it gracefully, as only Hermione could.

She looked up at him and he pulled her half naked body onto his own naked one. The tank top was gone in a second and her breasts pressed against his chest. He bit down on her shoulder when she grinded against him, teasing him, and left another mark in what had become their favorite spot.

"Draco, oh God, Draco please," she muttered into his ear and he took control of her hips, making her grind faster and harder.

"Draco, stop, dear Jesus _Christ,_please just fuck me," she screamed, begging for release and although he didn't know what half of it meant, it turned him on even more, if possible, and his large cock was throbbing like it had been before.

He flipped her over and rammed into her madly, while she steadied her body pressing her hands against she wall. He kept going at it, faster and harder as she screamed for more, but it wasn't as if he could control it at this point anyway. His eyes were having an orgasm of their own, eating her up as she screamed and thrashed about, her face red and sweaty, some lose curls sticking to her neck. She wasn't even at her peak but she was glowing underneath him. His hands glued themselves to her clit and it took a few seconds for her to come while he was in her, leaving his cock wet and sticky with her fluids. He looked at his glistening member and slid it in for the last time before he exploded inside her, his vision becoming white stars. He collapsed on her this time, and they both desperately tried to catch their breath.

In a few moments, she brushed some of his damp hair from his forehead and cupped his face. He looked up at her and snuggled closer to her naked body.

"No one else could ever make me do that," she whispered and he felt her breath tickle his face, sheen with sweat. It gave him goose bumps everywhere, and she felt it. Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard when he became hard against her leg again and promptly flipped him over on his back, sucking on his neck and becoming just as wet, if not wetter, than before.

He sat up and turned her around, so that she was on all fours. His fingers wasted no time in pumping in and out of her and he watched her drip onto his bed. He groaned and pressed himself against her bare ass, grabbing it and slipping his dick inside of her once again. This time, with the better angle, she cried out in pain but he didn't stop. He thrust into her with the same animal quality as always and she gripped the bed sheets around her tightly, tears springing to her eyes as she felt herself filled like never before but at the same time never wanting to end.

"Faster, Draco, oh god please," she begged and he fucked her right into the bed as he imagined.

"God, Hermione, I'm so close," he said desperately and his strangled voice made her come undone, him following in seconds.

They both, once again, red in the face, tried to get their hearts to slow down to a regular pace again. She laid next to him, naked and glistening with sweat. He pulled her damp hair away from her neck and out of her face. She was gorgeous, slick with sweat and undone.

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Already working on the next chapter so it'll be up soon. Reviews are always nice, they make me smile. Love you all! xx**


	20. Passion

It had been a week since Harry's arrival, and despite how Draco initially thought this was going to be, everyone was in fucking fantastic moods. Ginny and Harry had been fucking like rabbits, and Ron was happily oblivious training for Quidditch ever since the Chudley Cannons showed an interest in hiring him. Draco was an angel to Hermione in private, and the innuendos he made in public, that only the two of the understood, drove her insane. Every single day there was a brush past or some thorough eye sex or a hand where it shouldn't be hidden by robes.

Everything was good and jolly till Cynric dearest passed Hermione a note that everyone else, but Draco's prying eyes, had missed. Draco waited for her after class that day, in the same abandoned hallway as always, but alas no Hermione. Confused and suspicious, he stalked to the common room, flung himself into a chair and allowed himself a nice mug of butter beer.

It was a half an hour later that Hermione showed up, in tears.

"Draco, I need help."

He flew out of his seat and took both her hands but she pulled away, one hand on her hip and the other shakily wiping away quick tears.

"What the fuck Hermione, what happened?"

"Cynric and I..." she didn't really need to finish the sentence but Draco only raised an eyebrow, needing to hear it to believe it.

She looked at the ground and mumbled it out. "We slept together and now he'd threatening me and I don't know Draco."

"Draco, stop," she said, daring to look up at him and noticing his tense position and clenched fists. She got closer and took his fists into her own hands.

He pulled away roughly. "When was this?"

"It was always before this started last month, I promise."

"Always?"

She mentally shook herself for putting that in there.

"I-"

"This happened more than once?"

"Draco, what were you expecting me to do? I needed it after Cancun. I couldn't help myself anymore. I needed someone. I wasn't going to sit back and mourn over you while you were off fucking Astoria's brains out," she allowed herself, stepping back after she was done, cheeks reddening.

"You're Hermione fucking Granger. You're supposed to be top of the class, a bookworm, for fuck's sake. But here you are, fucking professors."

"A professor and it's over."

"He's threatening you," Draco stated.

"He has something up his sleeve, something about my reputation, and he made it perfectly clear that if this didn't continue without incident, I was done for."

"I'll take of it," he answered, gruffly.

She looked at him, eyes watering, but she hated the stone look.

"Draco, please, I'm sorry, I-"

"I haven't fucked Astoria since last year."

Hermione's mouth set in a straight line, speechless for once.

"You don't get it? This is a business arrangement. There never was a relationship, she has someone and so do I. The only time I'm with her is when SHE threatens ME."

Hermione kept walking closer to him but he had turned and started up the stairs towards his room. She followed him every step of the way, apologizing and begging him to stop.

Now in his room, she felt uncomfortable. She'd never been unwanted by Draco, and this was a new feeling laced with dread and guilt.

"I care about YOU," he said, in response to it all. She let out a sob and he turned to look at her.

Her cheeks reddened considerably, her hair was in disarray and the wetness of her tears was splayed across her face. Her eyes were rimmed with red but she looked like a goddess. A very sad goddess. Her robe was long forgotten, somewhere on the common room floor.

"Spread your legs," he said, motioning to the bed.

She looked at him, eyes widening, but did as he asked her, sitting on the bed. His hand flew to her center and massaged it through her stockings and panties. He stopped to tear off her sweater and white blouse, leaving her in her tie and red lace bra.

"I like you better in green," he said hotly, and the bra flew to the floor.

There she was confused, willing and topless on his bed. Her tits bounced every time she jerked from his motions down below and as her breathing became labored, he became mesmerized.

He peeled off the stocking and her panties. He then sat behind her, fully clothed, his raging cock pressing in her back. It drove him insane when he felt her gasp at the discovery but he maintained his composure.

He was straddling her from behind and he forced her legs open again. Without warning, three fingers forced their way in and she gasped out in what was undeniably pain, but he didn't stop.

In a few moments, she was slick and he put his lips to her neck.

"Could he make you wet this quick?"

"N-no," came the answer.

He forced his thumb on her clit and a few seconds later his ministrations caused her to lose control of all muscle and cum all over his hand and bed sheets.

"Did he make you cum like that?" he asked.

"Oh God," she replied, still getting her breath back. "No."

He bit into her shoulder and she moaned in response. Draco forced her underneath him and she was more than happy to acquiesce.

She looked at Draco but he was staring at her body. He was always an animal at this point but there was a strange calmness. Soon his cock was rubbing against her clit and Hermione was back to begging for release.

"Dr-Draco please," she sobbed, gasping for breath. He looked at her then, his gray eyes full of lust as always, and slammed in. The next few moments Hermione was fighting for breath, gasping and panting, grabbing at parts of Draco's body, leaving scratches.

He was busy bruising her neck with his tongue, while she was in ecstacy underneath him. He felt her walls closing down on him and grabbed her hips, taking it upon himself to fill her more. A few more thrust did the job for her and she came, screaming his name. Draco came a few seconds later, pulling out and cumming on her lower stomach. His fingers spread his own cum against her clit when he rubbed her sensitivity even more.

Hermione's back was arching and her eyes were rolling to the back of her head again.

"Draco…" she breathed.

"Don't ever do that again," he said, finally letting them both rest, but Hermione already knew that any other boy would never come close to making her feel what Draco had just done.

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**I know, I know I'm horrid. I think it's been like a month or a month and a half since I last updated but I'm not kidding when I say school is like an avalanche I'm running away from. And I'm a tad bit ahead now, so I can update, but please don't kill me ): I'm doing my best. Enjoy guys (:**


	21. Talks

Hermione woke up on Draco's chest, in his room, with his hand carelessly slung over her waist.

As much as she hated to admit it, she loved last night. She loved the jealousy, the roughness, it was all so new but she was able to see how he felt.

She slipped out of his room, tugging on one of his long t-shirts over her own pajama, and made her way down to the kitchen. Her stomach was growling and begging for food. It wasn't till she made it down to the last step that she noticed Harry staring at her.

"Harry…" she started but he cut her off with a smile.

"You two are friends, right?"

"Yeah," she answered quietly.

"The entire time I've been here you haven't snapped at each other, I found it odd," Harry said, eyebrows furrowing. But now I know why," he conceded.

"He's a nice person, you don't have to hate him," she said, a surge of something shooting up to her throat. _Protectiveness? _

"I don't hate him Hermione," he said.

"Every time you two see each other it's like World War III. I wish you'd both give each other a chance," she said.

"I'm willing, it's just Ron..."

"I know," she said, sipping at the hot tea she'd made herself.

"I'm gonna find out who this fellow is, by the way," Harry said, smiling again.

Hermione just groaned.

"What were you and Draco talking about anyway?" Harry asked.

"What?" she said, accidentally swallowed a mouthful of hot tea, making her eyes water.

"Well you were in his room at this ungodly hour, it had to be important," he said.

Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was only 6:30 am. It was so weird because she felt so rested and refreshed.

"Oh just Head duties that kept me up at night," she said, and swallowed loudly noting how her perverse mind analyzed those words based on last nights rendezvous.

Harry nodded and took the last sip of his drink.

"Stealing my clothes now, Granger?" came Draco's sultry voice and Hermione froze.

"I was cold," she said, praying no one would say the wrong thing.

Draco chuckled. "Morning Potter."

"Morning Malfoy," Harry replied in an equally cheery tone. "Well, I must be going now. Meeting at the Ministry."

"Oh you're leaving today?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, Ginny and I tried to tell you last night but you were nowhere to be found," Harry said.

"Oh, uh I had some problems to make up for," she said and Draco dropped a spoon.

Harry just looked at him and then back at Hermione.

"Well, I'll be back in a few weeks," he said standing up and Hermione flung herself into his arms for a goodbye.

He chuckled and patted her hair. "Love you 'Mione."

"Love you, too," she whispered and they broke apart.

"Malfoy."

"Potter."

And like that, Harry turned to leave with a smile.

"Can't believe he didn't figure that one out. Waffle?"

"Yeah but figure what out?" Hermione said.

"You come out of my room, in my clothes, early in the morning and they couldn't find you last night. Hm," he said.

"Oh Draco shush, he doesn't think that way."

"I don't understand how anyone can focus around you," he replied.

"I don't get why you think I'm so wonderful," she said, focusing on opening a packet of sugar and ending up getting a paper cut.

Draco shook his head from his position leaning against the counter, arms resting on the marble to either side of him.

He didn't answer the question but the heated gaze said it all. Hermione felt as if her hair lay in richly sultry waves instead of the bird's nest it probably resembled right now. She felt as if there was a sexy sheen on sweat on her face and body, as if her eyes were sparkling and reflecting off everything in the room, as if the slightest twitch of her mouth would send him reeling.

And it did, he saw only the best in her qualities, as if there was no bad. Each and every person had their flaws but if there were any outward ones, he couldn't find them. Draco couldn't really remember what he used to scream and yell at her cause he didn't know how he'd done it. She simply was perfect.

Her smile widened and she blushed, looking down at the ground and her hair flew into her eyes. He'd been staring at her for an extended period of time now.

"Promise me you won't let him touch you again," Draco said, suddenly becoming pained in the eyes.

She looked up at his strangled words and immediately flew into his arms.

"Draco, I promise, I promise, I promise."

He breathed in the scent of her hair and cupped the back of her head against his shoulder. Her arms were wrapped around him, hanging of for dear life.

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Dinnertime had come around and afterwards, Hermione and Ginny decided to roam the castle.

"So where were you last night anyways?" Ginny asked after their conversation about the week's drama had ceased.

Yes, Hermione didn't even mind talking about mindless things anymore.

"Honestly," Hermioned said, taking a breath, and then continued letting it out, "I just got tied up doing Head Girl stuff and fell asleep early."

"Fell asleep where? Harry and I checked your room, too," Ginny said, turning to look at her and the wide, clear blue eyes scared Hermione into looking down, as if Ginny could read her mind.

"Please don't tell Harry cause he'd kill me…" she started, formulating the lie in her head.

Ginny nodded and smiled up at Hermione, "Oh spill, you know you can tell me whatever it is."

"Draco and I just got caught up working on the New Year's Eve dance arrangements and I…" Ginny's eyes widened again and Hermione continued quickly. "You know us. Then this morning Harry was already in the kitchen when I walked out of Draco's room… in Draco's shirt so I told him I just went there that morning because I really don't think Harry has the capacity to hear that I'd let myself sleep in the enemies' room."

"Well of course he wouldn't, it's Malfoy. We've all hated him and been tortured by him since we were kids. I don't understand that spoiled kid. I mean, Theo's a Pureblood Slytherin, too. He's had everything handed to him just like Malfoy and he's also been pushed into being a Death Eater and believing the Dark Lord's lies… you know, living that life. But he's never once said anything about us Weasleys."

Hermione's examination of the ground at that moment intensified. Ginny was so right in so many ways. Hermione didn't have the energy to justify Draco's actions so she just swallowed through her dry throat and nodded.

"You're right Gin, that's why I didn't tell him. I don't even know what's really going on to tell."

"Don't worry, I'm _your _best friend, I won't start spilling your life story to Harry."

The topic of Draco had been dropped, but throughout the rest of their walk together that night, Hermione couldn't get Ginny's words out of her head.

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**I hate school. But enjoyyyyyy! **


	22. Slight Insanity

She stood in the center of her room, in pajamas, hands on hips. She started pacing. She sat back on her bed to finish her homework.

She was in her pajamas and her homework wasn't finished yet. It's as if the world had flipped upside down.

Yes Hermione had changed; she was more outgoing, she was more of a badass, she did things she shouldn't, but she was also the polite, intelligent girl on the outside with exactly the same work ethic as before.

So this event was very odd. But no matter what she did with her hair, whether it was up or down, or how many cups of tea she made herself, or how many silencing charms she cast around herself, something was off.

Either a hair was out of place or the tea was too hot or the sound of flipping a page drove her insane.

Ginny had made a _lot _of sense before and Hermione hadn't really faced the music before. She was always raised to be the girl that married the highly successful and educated doctor who was of the same religion and wanted two kids.

However, she didn't have a religion anymore, doctors were non-existant in the wizarding world and she wasn't too keen on Healers – most of them were less qualified than she was to do what they were doing purely because everyone could solve their own maladies in this world.

Draco wasn't close to any of those things in any way.

It's not as if she was really thinking of marriage, or marrying him for that matter, but it dawned on her that she had a future and it was very unclear. Just because she didn't have to figure her future out now didn't mean she couldn't figure out her present.

She slammed her pencil down in the book and shut it for the fifteenth time that night.

It's not as if Draco changed overnight. He had always been a prejudiced, spoiled brat that indulged himself in causing problems for everyone he disliked around him. He had never been an actual friend to anyone as far as Hermione was aware. There wasn't any family problems besides Voldemort's infiltration but Ginny held a good point there too. Theo's father was murdered, his mother was killed by his father, and he was recruited to be a Death Eater. But Theo was still a good kid. He'd made the usual snide comments at everyone once in a while, but he never went out of his way like Draco did. He tried hard in school, fairly, he didn't have friends but it's because he alienating himself not because he drove them away with words. Theo had every excuse to be a bitter, mean person but he wasn't. Draco, by these standards, was in a better place with every reason to want to become better.

He was better now, but he never undid the past. He never apologized for it and once a cheater always a cheater, right? That was a saying and Hermione was sure it was a saying for a reason.

And then there was the girlfriend problem.

Would Draco always be the same cold-hearted boy?

But then her own changes flew into her mind. She'd changed significantly after the war, but she'd kept most of her ethics. Besides the sex, besides sleeping with the enemy, besides lying to her friends, besides having no God to believe in.

Sigh.

Every last one of her thoughts successfully made her more and more frustrated.

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"You down for a midnight snack, too?" said the silky voice she least wanted to hear.

It was well past midnight, on a Tuesday night no less, and her homework wasn't done. But it wasn't as if she'd end up focusing on it with her stomach rumbling AND the thoughts fluttering around in her head so she'd compromised. She'd whip up some of her famous Autumn cake, getting her mind off things, and then enjoy it. Maybe afterwards she'd feel better.

Thank Merlin she still had her Perk-Me-Up potion for the morning.

But as she made it into the kitchen she quickly realized all her relaxing plans were shot to hell.

"I guess," she replied, after a pause.

Draco's eyes narrowed slightly in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong…you know Ginny knows about us, right?"

"Oh? And she's okay with it?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"She seems to not care about the fact you were an arrogant prick your whole life as long as I'm happy," she started. Draco's smile made her voice tremble with the next words. "But I do."

"What do you mean?" Draco said, putting down his cup of tea, directing all his attention to Hermione.

It was things like this that made her crazy. She'd managed to convince herself it was all fake, he was just using her for some perverse Mudblood sex, and he loved Astoria. But all his actions screamed otherwise.

"I _mean, _Draco, what are we anyway? You're with Astoria, the rest of the school still thinks we hate each other, and as much as I'm enjoying the sex, I'd like it if someone actually cared for me too. I'm pretty sure I can find that somewhere else."

Now he'd gotten up and grabbed hold of both of her shoulders. His stare pierced her and drove every droplet of blood inside her to a stop.

"I _do _care about you. I don't know how you expect me to fix things from one day to the next. My family won't just let Astoria go and let you in with open arms. I can't just decide that, one fine autumn morning, I suddenly dismissed my entire childhood and decided to be with you."

"Really Draco? You can't?" she said, shrugging out of his grips. "But you can _fuck _me everyday, telling me you don't believe that you Purebloods are better, telling me you don't care for Astoria and telling me everything will be okay. When is it going to be okay? Can you tell me that?"

"It will, someday, I just need time to-"

"To what Draco? To figure out how to make this as least damaging to your name as possible? I don't know how you want to tell people about us, but if you want there to be an "us" you're going to have to."

"What exactly do you want me to do?" he asked her.

"I don't know, that's for you to figure out, isn't it?"

She became aware of the fact she came into the kitchen for a reason, but the feeling at the pit of her stomach wasn't hunger. She turned on her heels and retreated back into her room before Draco could see the tears.

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**I really need to get ahead in these chapters again. But for now, enjoy the latest two (: **


	23. Heart to Heart

**Oh dear God the last time I uploaded something was over a month ago. You can all impale me now and I won't complain. I'm so so so so sorry but junior year has been a nightmare. School, SATs, sports, volunteering, you name it, I do it. And then there's this little thing called "my social life" that I've been focusing too much on. I realized that I love the world of books and writing and everything but the real world more though, the more I communicate with actual people. SIGH. **

**Well, here you go. And I absolutely promise to update more regularly and you'll be getting some longer, juicier chapters soon to make up for it. It's your later Christmas present.**

**For those of you that stick around, thank you I love you. I welcome new readers, always. I also welcome reviews but if you're mad at me I understand :( If you're not though, reviews make me happppppppy Happy me = faster updates? **

**Okay ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYY! **

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"Sometimes it gets difficult, but I mean it'd be this way sooner or later right? He's a year older so he'd be out of school before I was either way," Ginny explained.

"You're right, but I really can't imagine life without your boy by your side. Not that I have one, but if I didn't have my eye candy I don't know what I'd do," replied Macy and both girls burst into laughter.

"At least," started Ginny, still giggling, "we have eye candy. Believe me, I notice it, too."

Macy looked up at her with a disapproving look and lightly smacked her upper arm, through some more giggles.

"Unbelievable. You have THE catch of them all but you still flirt. Typical, typical," said Macy.

"Hey, a girl has needs."

Both of them were lounging in the Gryffindor common room late that night, trying to finish some scrolls for tomorrow's classes. Ginny looked up and her amused face quickly morphed into one of concern when she noticed Hermione, pajamas and all, sauntering into the tower. It's not that she was barely there… well it was… but it was also that she has there at this hour that made Ginny's stomach drop to the floor.

" 'Mione! What's wrong, what happened?" Ginny shrieked, jumping up to run and hug her best friend. Macy turned around and also looked concerned. Hermione just smiled weakly and waved it off.

"Oh it's nothing. I just need a change of scenery," she replied.

"…Right," said Ginny. "Well would some chocolate cake be a good fix of scenery?"

Hermione's weak smile brightened. She knew Ginny's tactics and she realized Ginny was worried. Ginny was like any mother; she was always over worried, she put others before herself and she didn't stop till the problem went away.

"Of course. Chocolate is a girl's best friend right?"

"I have some left in my room from dinner. I'll be right back," offered Macy as she scampered off to get the midnight snack.

" 'Mione…"

"No, Gin, really it's fine. I've just been thinking so much recently and I know that's not odd for me but it's been about everything besides books. I've been thinking about how when Harry told me you were closer friends with Isobel and Macy than the Patil twins I didn't even realize the change. I was barely with Harry while he was here even though I know I should be treasuring his visits cause he's my best friend. I know Ron's with Isobel but even when Harry told me he thought we'd end up together it didn't affect me, like I didn't care about Ron and his feelings the way I should about a best friend. I owe it to him to at least give him a heads' up that we're not going to be together in the end, right? It was when you said Draco hasn't changed that I actually faced the issue I knew was there all along. It's not your fault Gin, stop, stop it, don't bury your head in your hands. It's just my fault. I've been focusing on everything but the people I love and the things I love for this… thing. He's with Astoria, Gin. And she has someone on the side, too. How sick is that? And Cynric? WHAT am I supposed to do about that? It's still November for God's sake and I managed to make such a big mess in such a short amount of time. I-" Hermione stopped talking and just plopped down on the couch.

Ginny's arms were around the distressed girl in seconds.

"Hermione, you've cared about me, and Harry, and Ron and everyone else around you way too much and for way too long. It's high time we did some worrying about you and you finally had some fun. Harry will be back soon, and we can all go away somewhere for Christmas or New Year's or something, just calm down. It's not the end of the world – we've faced that already and we survived. You can finally live a normal life, that's not life or death, that's not worth crying tears over. I talked to Ron, Harry mentioned that to me too, as you might have guessed. Ron sees it, he knows you as well as you know him. He might be a dimwit sometimes," she smiled up at Hermione who smiled back through watery eyes threatening to spill over, "but he sees you differently. He's been happy with Isobel and he knows you're happy with whatever's been going on. Did you know you've been smiling and laughing and talking more? You're the same person, just years younger with this. Please don't throw him away because I made some stupid comment."

"It's not just what you said, Gin. There's real issues here that aren't going away, too."

"So he's with Astoria. So what? That's bound to end. He has to balance everything out and he has to figure out his own feelings and actually, so do you. Do you want him to drop her then announce to the whole world he's in love with you?"

"Gin he doesn't love me."

"If he did, do you want that?"

"No, you know I don't like people knowing my life."

"So you answered your own question, 'Mione. You're looking for problems that don't exist. Do you know how you feel about him?"

"No but – "

"Okay and then there's Cynric," said Ginny, cutting her off.

"Yeah, I told Draco about that," Hermione said, looking down at her hands as her face flushed with the memories.

"And I'm sure you, of all people, know Draco and know the Slytherins and know just how well he could handle that. He doesn't take you for granted 'Mione. He knows I know, it's obvious. Parkinson's probably been on his ass trying to figure it out, too. He's not trying to hide it as well as he could. He stares at you, he touches you, he smiles and winks. He talks to Hufflepuffs for God's sake. Half the school thinks he's in love. And you're worried about Astoria."

"Well can you blame me."

"You're just blind 'Mione. Sincerely blind."

Hermione looked up at Ginny and smiled again, shaking her head. "Are you serious? The school thinks he's in love?"

"Yes and now they're trying to find out with whom he is so enamored."

"But he's with –"

"OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE," Ginny said and then lowered her tone, "Hermione we all know he doesn't love her. There's a few first years that think he loves her and that they're planning their wedding but their eleven and completely uneducated about the way Malfoy works. "

"Oh God, but I've still made such a mess of things," said Hermione, burying her head in her hands again.

"And that's okay. You haven't made a mess of things since you got here, it's about time."

"And the cake has arrived," said Macy from the top of the stairs with a huge tray filled with mouthwatering chocolate goods.

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and then Macy and all three laughed. Macy set the cake down on the table by the fireplace, Hermione summoned some utensils and soon all the girls were sitting on the floor around the coffee table laughing, sharing some gossip and eating the way teenage girls never do. Hermione's mind was free of Draco, Ginny wasn't thinking about her weight and Macy's eyes were shining with genuine mirth.

"He didn't," Hermione said.

"Oh yes he did," replied Macy.

"Come on 'Mione, if anyone was enough of a moron to do that it'd be Seamus."

"But she's a Slytherin! He has to have some common sense," Hermione countered.

"He almost blew up his face first year, I don't think common sense runs in the genes of that family," Macy said.

"But he went up to a 7th year Slytherin and kissed her. WHAT was he expecting?"

"Certainly not for sparks to be flying out his ass but it was lovely entertainment for that lunch hour," said Ginny and all three girls doubled over in laughter recounting the story.

Hermione was going to have to focus a little more on friends and other things regular 16 year olds concentrated on because, as far as she could tell from this late night talk, it cause her to laugh a lot more than usual.

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**So, lovely readers, here's your Chapter 23. I still can't believe I made it this far, I usually give up and never finish anything. I actually re-read the entire story last night so the updates will be more in sync with the actual world of Hermione and Draco and Hogwarts. HOW I WISH I WAS PART OF IT. SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Anyway, let me know what I can do to make up for my long absence and if enough of you want it, I'll do it. I'm thinking more updates, longer chapters, maybeeeeeeeeeee, just maybeeeeee, I'll make a Tumblr dedicated to this. Or a playlist? Hmmm, let me know. **

**I'll update soon my lovelies! xoxo**


	24. Spilling Secrets

**Teeheehee, fast update as promised! I love being back in this world of writing and Harry Potter and parallel universes and everything, I'll be updating as soon as possible for a whileeeeeeeeeeee. Tell me what you guys want to read, though. Give me your opinions. **

**Tell me what you love and hate.**

**Tell me who you love and hate.**

**Tell me what you hope for. **

**Give me some feedback! **

**Enjoy **

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Hermione smiled as the familiar scent left her feeling at home. Parchment, books and hazelnut coffee - her favorite. It was the last week of November and Hermione had taken the combined advice of Ginny and herself. She'd been hanging out with Ginny and Macy a lot more, making two trips to Hogsmeade within two weeks, taking her time with them at lunch and dinner. More often than not, Isobel also joined in on their lunches and dinners and Hermione actually took a liking to the dark haired girl. She was a generically pretty girl with not too bad of a mind on her shoulders and a great sense of humor. Hermione guessed that the sense of humor was what really connected her and Ron and she'd silently given the couple her blessing. Ron noticed the blossoming friendship and had been kinder to her. Hermione guessed this was both at Ginny's urging and from the experience he had with his own relationship. She never thought she'd see the day that Ron was understanding of girls, but things were quickly getting better. Harry hadn't visited yet but he was supposed to around Christmas time and neither girl could wait.

On this particular Saturday morning, Hermione decided to wake up early and finish all her weekend homework because the four girls had planned another trip to Hogsmeade for lunch and some shopping. But, from the look in Ginny's eyes when she invited her and the odd request to keep a change of dress in the form of a dress and heels in her Undetectable Expandable Bag left Hermione thinking there was more in store. But before she could let herself protest, she stopped. She knew it'd probably be better for her to go out and have fun which she hadn't really done in months. And what better way than whatever party Ginny planned to drag her to.

More and more of her free time was spent in the library, just like the old days. Old habits die hard. Another hour later, at about 11 o'clock, Hermione sauntered back to her room, passing Draco on the couch and went to freshen up.

"Hermione…" he called after her.

She froze on the first step of the stairs. They hadn't said anything to each other, still doing their weekend shifts separately and avoiding their common areas.

"I don't know how to fix this," he said when she turned around to look at him.

She half smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "It's not your fault," she said and continued up the stairs.

He stood there looking after her as she disappeared into her room and a plan formulated in his head. Draco didn't know what she meant, but he figured it was better than a fight. Before this could continue another week or two, he decided to get off his sad arse and do something about it. His first stop was the Slytherin common room.

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Hermione packed a pair of nude heels and a tight nylon short sleeve black dress. She shrugged her shoulders at her choice figuring it would work for whatever Ginny had planned. She then shoved in her oversized wallet that also served as her make up bag with some lip balm, blush and mascara tucked inside. Figuring that was all she needed, she headed towards the Gryffindor tower to meet Ginny, Macy and Isobel.

It was late November now and the temperatures were reaching freezing now. Hermione wore a simple fitted teal sweatshirt and tight washed out skinny jeans with cognac leather riding boots. She carried her well- fitted black parka on her arm as well as her black leather satchel.

Ginny brightened when Hermione entered the room and then all four girls set out for their day together. All four girls turned out to be dressed similarly. Each had minimal make up and looked as if they could care less what they looked like right now. Ginny's flaming red hair was well set off by her gray sweatshirt and skinny blue jeans that she paired with her gray converses and a warm black jacket. As expected, Ginny had a huge bag filled with anything you could possibly need, just like a mother's. Isobel's long straight dark hair, shining as usual, was up in a sleek high ponytail that enhanced her cheekbones and the maroon ribbon head band matched her maroon sweater. Her black jeans, black leather jacket lined with white wool and black combat boots completed the get up. She carried a small, rusty colored crossbody purse. Macy's dirty blonde hair was half up and half down, and her tight black sweatshirt was matched with a pair of ripped blue jeans. She also wore plain, used black converses, and a waterproof hooded black jacket. Macy had a beige leather shoulder bag that looked quite expensive.

As soon as they reached Hogsmeade, they grabbed some lunch at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and then headed off to some clothing stores. All four girls with their varying tastes separated inside the stores and about three hours and four shops later, they were content with their shopping. Winter wardrobe's complete, they followed Hermione into Tomes and Scrolls as she searched for a new muggle mystery book and they grabbed some coffee from the book shop's café. Within a half hour, all their purchases were tucked inside their purses with a simple Undetectable Extendable charm performed by Hermione and they were sitting with their coffees, laughing and gossiping.

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Draco found the dark haired girl he was looking for within seconds of entering the nearly empty Slytherin common room. Blaise was nowhere to be found but neither was anyone else, save some first or second years giggling by the fireplace as he passed by. He could help but roll his eyes.

"Pans," he said and she immediately looked up from her scrolls.

"Draco," she said, smiling. "How nice of you to show signs of being alive and well by entering the Slytherin common room for the first time in a month."

His lips curved upwards at her words and he shook his head slightly.

"So what is it?" she said.

"What?"

"Well, you're clearly here for a reason. What did you do this time?"

"Why do you always assume it's me?"

"You're Draco _Malfoy_. I don't know anyone else that gets themselves in more trouble than you do."

He shook his head again. "Fair point," he said, taking a deep breath.

"You haven't been this serious since the war, what happened?"

"It's a long story, Pans," he said, emphasizing the adjective.

"And since Blaise is currently serving a five hour detention with McGonagall for transforming some second year into a girl, asshole, it's going to be a long Saturday. So please do enlighten me on what's been going on for the past few months because knowing you, you haven't told anyone else and you can't keep it all inside. You do that too much."

"You're not going to want to hear this, Pans," he said.

"I don't _care _anymore, Draco. The war is over. I'm happy. Blaise is happy. You're even smiling and cracking jokes at dinner. You haven't shit on some Ravenclaw's life or paid someone off to do homework since the year began. I don't care who she is Draco, just tell me so I can give you my blessing."

Draco looked into Pansy's dark eyes and knew that she was sincere as always. If there were two people he trusted in this world it was Pansy and Blaise. He knew if he told Pansy, she'd tell Blaise, so before dropping the bomb, he took another deep breath.

Casting a silencing charm around them, he continued.

"It all started this summer, in Mexico, where I ran into her."

"This summer! In the muggle world? And you still haven't said a word? Really Draco, come off it."

"Let me finish. In Mexico, I ran into Hermione and from then on it's like nothing else matters."

Pansy's curious face turned into a smiling one and Draco was thoroughly confused now.

"Knew itttttttttt," she said in a sing-song voice.

"And you still don't care?"

"So what happened? Is she really not a bookworm at heart because I know _something _reeled you in and now I want to know what it was."

"Pans, you really don't care that she's a Mud-"

"DRACO! Please, for the love of Merlin, can we not pretend we're our parents? We never were and we hopefully never will be. I could care less, after all of this, whether she's a muggle or a Pureblood, because I've never seen you so happy. I am your friend and you are mine. So,_ please,_ continue before I have to slap some sense into you."

Draco just raised and eyebrow but recounted his story of Mexico, the drinking, the conversations, the fights, how out of character both of them were, as if the wizarding world didn't exist.

"It amazes me how I barely used magic around her but it didn't bother me. It just wasn't something primary till we got back here. And it felt so _good _Pans, like everything that happened, didn't. Like the Dark Mark on my forearm didn't exist. It's been fading since He died, but it's been fading so rapidly these few months that it's almost gone."

"Draco's learned what love is, how precious," she said, giggling.

"I'm not in love with her," he stated.

Pansy just cradled her head in her palm while her elbow was propped up on her knee. "You told me all of this, that means something. You're happy, that means something. And your Dark Mark's disappearing, that means something. Magic doesn't lie."

"It's just because I'm happy, Pansy."

"You're happy in the most pure form of happiness there is. Stop talking yourself out of it. It's all you've been doing this entire conversation."

He closed his eyes for a moment and dropped back into the couch.

"So, are you together?"

"That's the thing," he said, without opening his eyes. "I don't know what we are. It's not like she doesn't know about Astoria, or about how Slytherins and Purebloods are towards muggle-borns like her. And you really can't blame her for thinking what she does, I've done nothing but been horrid to her for 6 years and now… this."

"I knew it was her for a reason, Draco. Whether you bothered her or you loved her, she was always taking up your attention. I kept wondering who it was but in the past few months I haven't noticed you even looking at another girl besides her. First, you were constantly bickering like an old married couple in the hallways. Nowadays, you just stare at her and, believe me, she stares back. I couldn't really believe it till just now when you told me, but it's not even a far-fetched idea for someone that knows you as well as I do. Can I talk to her? Can I actually talk to her for the first time since I met her? I really want to Draco, I want to know her."

He looked up at his almost-sister and couldn't help but smile.

"Why do you have me all figured out?"

"I'm your friend and I'm a girl. I don't think there needs to be anymore of an explanation."

He smiled wider and suddenly his eyes god watery. "God," he said and covered his face with his hands.

Pansy got up from her side of the coffee table and sat next to Draco, putting her comforting arms around him.

"You've been an absolute imbecile towards her, I can imagine. But first things first, Astoria needs to go. That galleon-digging pompous, arrogant, gaudy bitch deserves everything I have planned for her."

Draco chuckled into his hands.

"Believe it or not, Pans," he said, straightening up, "we have a bigger problem."

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**A/N: I think Pansy took that rather well, don't you. Review for more! Love you, xoxo**


	25. Resolution

**Lalalala, what's this? Another fast update? **

**Enjoy my lovelies, I hope you like what I'm doing. Hm, it's Christmastime in Hogwarts soon… **

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"Oh dear Merlin, this girl knows how to get herself in trouble," Pansy said, sighing.

"Exactly. I don't even know how to get her out of this one and I'm a Slytherin."

Pansy smiled at the distress on Draco's face. She hadn't seen him care about someone… ever. It was a nice change. He was growing up, manning up, maturing I ways even the war couldn't make him. She couldn't help smiling at these developments in the story, no matter how twisted it was.

"Lucky for you, my mind's not clouded worrying about everything else in that pretty little head of yours so I already have a plan concocting."

Draco looked up at her and squeezed her.

"Draco, my insides are cracking. Stop. Hugging. So. Tight."

"Sorry, Pans, it's just I knew I could count on you and that evil brain of yours."

"Hey, it's always been evil for the greater good."

"The greater good has always been the Slytherins."

"Well now it's the Slytherins and Hermione," she said.

"Don't tell Blaise yet," Draco pleaded.

Pansy took a deep breath, but rolled her eyes at him. "I won't, I won't but tell him sometime soon. I can't keep anything from him and you know it."

"Thanks Pans, and I will, don't worry. I think Ginny knows about this."

"She definitely does. A girl's best friend knows everything and there's a lot of brains under that red hair and those freckles. I want to meet her, too."

"I think I have to talk to her first."

Pansy slapped his arm. "Merlin, Draco, you've really been shit for the past few months haven't you?"

"I don't know what to do."

"Clearly. So hopeless. But listen, I'll take care of Professor_ Cynric, _he disgusts me already, and you take care of Astoria. I think publicly and brutally should be the best way, I want to see her cry."

"You're a horrid person."

"You're only saying that because you have a guilty conscience. I just hate her, as does Blaise and every other person with a brain."

"Whatever you say Pansy, I trust you."

"And I trust you to do the right thing, Draco. Now go do it."

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"Such a cow, honestly. Then she shoves me out of the way, huffing and puffing like she's the Queen of England or something," Macy said.

"That's classic Astoria, for you. She doesn't know how to be a regular person, just a frigid bitch," added Isobel.

Hermione was _really _warming up to these girls now. She'd never been one to sit and talk about other people, but when they were talking about how much of a royal pain in the ass Astoria was, she didn't mind it one bit.

Ginny winked at Hermione and added, "Well, her daddy paid for those double D's and her clown make up isn't very becoming on her now, is it? I pity the boy that wakes up next to her in the morning, when her hair isn't magicked and her make up isn't on, to a shriveled up rat."

All four girls howled in laughter and Hermione had tears of laughter streaming down her face.

"Poor boy," said Macy.

"Wouldn't that be Draco?" asked Isobel. "I don't understand what's wrong with him…"

"Oh Is, where have you been. It's just a Malfoy Greengrass arrangement that I hope the boy will have the sense to cut off before he does something stupid. I mean, Lucius is in jail and the Greengrasses are just another Pureblood Slytherin family kicked to shit after the war. I really don't know why Malfoy hasn't done anything about it yet, she's a disgusting pig sloppily drooling on his arm every time they're together in public."

Hermione's mouth was curved up in a smile and she covered it to stifle a laugh. Ginny, on the other hand, was out right crying of laughter again and Isobel was amusedly shaking her head.

"Anyway," said Ginny, in that voice which everyone knew to be the one before any announcements she made, "we've been sitting here gossiping like old cat ladies for nearly two hours and it's nearly 6 o'clock. There's a _lovely _party going on in the basement of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, so," she said, rummaging through her bag, "I thought we'd all pre-game a little bit," she finished, producing a rather large thermos filled with everything but tea or coffee.

"I am so with it," Isobel said, her dark grey eyes shining immediately.

It was a matter of minutes before the Firewhiskey burned each girls' throat and they made their way down the street to Ginny's brothers shop. They each greeted a smiling George and went into the back room to change and do some freshening up. Hermione's long dark curls were more bouncy, her fit body was well shown off by the form fitting black dress and her legs went on for miles in those nude heels. Ginny threw on black pumps and a dark purple strapless dress, Isobel went with a dark green sleeveless dress and metallic pumps leaving her hair up while Macy donned a navy dress with long sleeves but no back and gold, shiny heels to match her golden hair which she let free in loose waves. After about 10 minutes of touching up, each girl looked sinful. Ginny attacked Hermione's light make up with dark sultry eyes and for once, Hermione felt the way she had in Mexico and more. She gave Ginny a sincere smile and mouthed thank you while Macy and Isobel were busy freaking out over their heels. They all organized their things back into their bags and hung them in George's coatroom before taking the trap door down into the basement at around 7 o'clock.

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Draco wandered around the basement halls till it was time for dinner. As per usual, most of the students were down in the Great Hall to eat supper, then disappear into various nightly activities on this Saturday night. He sat near Blaise and Pansy and they started talking, Pansy smiling knowingly, and it only took about 10 minutes till Astoria and her group of cronies were attached to him.

"Draco, darling, mind sharing some of that pie, baby," she cooed.

He looked disgusted and stood up and out of her grasp.

"I do, actually. I'm not entirely aware where that mouth of yours has been recently."

Her highly made up eyes flew open and she pulled at his arm.

"I don't know what you're talking about Drakey, sit down."

"No, thank you. I think we're done here Astoria."

"What are you saying," she said through pressed teeth.

"I'm saying I'm done and I hardly care if you're okay with that or not. We've been dead for months, I don't know who you're fucking on the side, I don't care. I don't want to have anything to do with you and I'd appreciate it if you got your boney ass away from me."

"What did I do," she said, tears springing to her eyes as if on cue. Then she started sobbing and just kept pulling at Draco's hand.

"Oh for the love of God, tell your father he's not touching the Malfoy fortune and attach yourself to another millionaire. I've heard Nott's available, I'm sure you wouldn't mind his money either."

Astoria stood up, and slapped Draco. He just laughed at her.

"Oh and Astoria?" said Pansy, sweetly.

"What?" barked the other girl.

"If you have enough money to get a boob charm, you have enough money to not be a galleon-digging whore."

Blaise and Draco both whooped loudly and Blaise proceeded to hug his girlfriend while Draco sat back down. The entire Great Hall went from silent, listening to the exchange, to as loud as any cafeteria, excitedly gossiping about the new developments.

"Proud," said Pansy, and she rubbed his pale hand on the table.

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A few more drinks in, and the girls were hammered. Hermione was sitting at the bar talking to Cormac for old time's sake, while Ginny and Isobel were dancing together. Macy had long since disappeared with some dark haired seventh year into a hallway and as far as Hermione could tell, everyone was satisfied. Ron, Luna and Neville soon entered and Isobel ran to her boyfriend as the other couple walked over to Hermione.

"Slytherins are a bunch of wackos," she heard Neville say as he sat down near her at the bar and gave her a quick hello.

"That may be, but I think they've just been around to many Lampets. Those creatures always love the color green and they can make anyone lose track of sanity," Luna replied.

"But it was entertaining," Neville replied.

"What'd I miss guys?" said Hermione, hiccupping and promptly giggling.

"Who left you here alone?" Neville said, immediately realizing her state.

"I'm not alone. The girls are all around here, somewhere," she said with a broad hand-flinging gesture at the general party.

"Right, well, I still think you shouldn't be drinking anymore," he said, concerned.

"Now what's the fun in that Neville? But anyways, what'd I miss?"

"Oh Draco and Astoria had a whole scene in the Great Hall. I think they're finally done. And good for him, she's been around to many Brown- speckled beetles, you know those invisible ones that stay in your hair? It's turned her into quite a pig of a girl," said Luna.

Hermione nearly dropped her glass of alcohol and her eyes shot open in surprise. She then laughed, a huge, belly laugh, like she hadn't in months.

"Of course _I'd _miss that," she hiccupped and then accidentally knocked over her drink in Neville's lap.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry Neville, I didn't mean to – "

"It's fine 'Mione, it's fine. I'll just charm is clean, don't worry," he said.

But by the time Neville finished cleaning himself off, Hermione was long gone on the dance floor. Luna and Neville both gasped loudly at who she was dancing with.

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**A/N: Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnnn. Remember, I like to throw curveballs. Keep reading and reviewing lovelies! **


	26. Complications?

**Happy New Year guys! Enjoy **

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Hermione felt like it was Mexico all over again. She downed quite a few glasses of Firewhiskey, her dress was tight and her heels were high. To everyone that knew her, the moment she stepped on the dancefloor, sloshed, was an odd one. But, for someone as intoxicated as she was, she remained quite regal. Her eyes were shut as she swayed and a pair of hands found themselves on her hips. Her lips curved lightly at the memory, but his hands were rougher. And he smelled differently. She leaned back into the man anyway, too drunk to care.

"You look gorgeous tonight, too," said the mystery man, and she immediately placed the voice.

"The only time we ever speak, you throw compliments my way, Mr. Nott," she said, remembering Slughorn's Halloween party.

"Well – deserved ones, that is," he replied.

His lips grazed her neck and she pushed her hair over one shoulder, allowing him more space. He growled softly, approving, and she ground herself harder into him.

"You're making it hard to be a gentleman," he said, his voice a little strangled.

She turned, placing a hand on each of his shoulders and then clasped them around his neck, moving closer. She smiled coyly.

"I don't want you to be a gentleman," she said and they both disappeared from the side of the dancefloor into a corridor.

Luna and Neville had lost track of them as had anyone who was interested, which were the few newbies to the party that were still sober. In a few minutes, it was forgotten to everyone but the couple themselves.

They wound up in a bathroom, Nott locked the door and cast a silencing charm while Hermione settled, or rather fell, onto a pink velvet couch.

She was looking up at the dark haired, dark eyed buff boy, from his square, sexy jaw line down his shirt where his apparent muscles were hiding. He, on the other hand, could focus on nothing but the glowing amber eyes, tracing his body.

"Mr. Nott do you know what you're doing?" she asked, again coyly from her position on the couch.

"No," he said, taking a few steps towards her.

"Do you know what you want to do?" she said as he appeared right in front of her, his legs separating her own as she sat straight up on the chair, tilting her head back to look into his eyes.

"I have an idea," he said, never looking away from her.

"Do you want to show me, Mr. Nott," she asked, taking her point finger and tracing it down the middle of his dark green button down shirt to his belt, making him lose track of all thoughts for the moment.

"Only if you want Ms. Granger," he answered.

"Do you think I want you to?" she asked and he picked her up by the ass, slamming her into the wall next to the couch and drove his hand right where she most wanted to.

She was soaked.

He looked up at her when he knew that she realized he felt her wetness.

"I'm assuming yes," he answered those amber eyes.

"You're assuming right," she said, losing her breath a bit considering his fingers were currently doing a number on her and she promptly groaned.

"This turns you on?" he whispered, more musing to himself then actually asking and she answered by throwing her head back and moaning some more.

"Can we apparate?" Hermione asked.

"My room or yours?" Nott asked.

"The Head Girl's is more spacious from what I hear."

The two apparated just outside Hogwart's walls and strode along the cold stone floors till they got to the shared dormitory of Hermione and Draco.

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"Now there's something you don't see everyday. Draco Malfoy at a Weasleys' party," said Isobel as she turned around from Macy.

"What's he doing in my brother's store," slurred a slightly drunk Ron as he pushed past the girls to get to Malfoy.

"Stop it," hissed Ginny, appearing out of nowhere and grabbing a hold of his arm, dragging him in the other direction.

Ron just looked over his shoulder at the blonde head weaving its way through the crowd, but let it go as soon as Isobel pulled him into a corner.

Ginny just stood where she had been on the dance floor and, herself, walked towards Draco.

As soon as he noticed her she cocked an eyebrow and he sighed.

"Where is she?" he asked, with no menace in his voice.

"I honestly don't know," she yelled over the music, "I actually haven't seen her in a while."

"Who did she come with?"

"Just us. Me, Mace and Isobel," Ginny answered, taking a seat at the bar.

He sat next to her and leaned closer. "So you all let her out of your sight in this condition?"

Ginny cracked a tipsy smile, gathered her long hair in a ponytail and then let it fall.

"I'd think you of all people would know she can handle herself fine in "this" condition," she said, literally doing air quotes around the word 'this.'

"She's the furthest thing from fine, last I remember," said Draco shortly, images flashing in his head from every single time she has been drunk around him and he shut his eyes realizing he wasn't there this time.

"What are you even doing here?" asked Ginny, remembering Ron's prior outrage at the fact that this _was _a Weasleys' party.

"I have my sources," he stated.

Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes. "Like a true Slytherin."

Images just kept flashing through his mind and Draco began to grind his teeth thinking of where Hermione could be right now and with whom. He knew very well the things she did, especially when angry. Then he thought of Cynric and was about to get up and apparate back to Hogwarts to bash the bastard's head in before Ginny's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Take this," she said, handing him a glass of Firewhiskey. "She's fine wherever she is, she's doing what she wants to do at the moment and she deserves to. Just leave her alone, at least for the night Draco."

He just looked at her blankly.

"Take it," she said again and he did, swallowing the drink in one gulp.

"And don't do anything stupid," she requested, watching him walk away.

_The man is sexy when he's angry, _she thought and smiled to herself thinking of Hermione.

He left the Weasley Shop and wandered through Hogsmeade in just a black shirt and slacks in sub 30 degree whether. However, with his blood boiling as it was right now, he could barely feel the weather. He ran a hand through his locks and then shoved both hands in his pockets.

The only thing that could do him good is a long, cold walk without anyone around to bug him.

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**A/N: So, hope you enjoyed this. I just love causing problems when things seem all peachy. Sighhhhhhh, I'm evil. I know it's quite short but there's more on the way, don't worry. Anyway, keep the reviews coming my lovelies! **


	27. Peace

**So, I was just wondering if you guys liked when I responded to all your reviews personally… let me know.**

**I love how I know I have tons upon tons of schoolwork to do yet I sit here writing this… can't help it, I love Dramione. **

**Okay, here's Chapter 27. Still can't believe I made it thus far! Enjoy **

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Hermione nursed the steaming cup of tea Ginny had made her, glaring at her best friend while she was nearly crying tears of laughter. For once, Hermione decided to leave her tower and sought refuge in Ginny's room.

Recounting the tale of the previous evening and this morning, painful yet not serious for Hermione, seemed to be the more hysterical thing Ginny could think of.

"Wait, so, just like that, oh Merlin," Ginny choked out before doubling over in laughter.

Hermione had filled her in on how her and Theo got away to the bathroom, then got back to Hermione's room, had lots and lots of sex on different surfaces of her room, woke up in bed together and the awkward morning sneak out.

"I swear Ginny, if you laugh one more time I'm throwing this tea in your face," Hermione threatened.

"Sorry, sorry," Ginny said, trying to keep a straight face. "I really just can't get over all of this. It sounds like it was a business arrangement."

"Glad you find it funny," Hermione responded.

"Oh you know you would too if it happened to me."

Hermione woke up with the sun shining in her eyes through the slits of her curtains and rolled over, face first into the pillow when her headache struck her. It was only then that she registered Theo was in bed with her and, conveniently, that's when he woke up. She magicked some clothes on, as did he, and then he asked her if she was okay. Hermione, although not too proud of her drunken choices, was fine with everything that had happened and merely smiled and told him not to worry about her. Both had agreed not to tell anyone further and then Theo left before Malfoy, or anyone for that matter, was up and about.

Hermione promptly jumped in the shower and then ran to tell Ginny the entire story.

And this was the second hour of enduring Ginny's laughter.

Hermione sighed. "I guess, I just can't believe Draco _actually _showed up at your brother's shop. I mean, I wouldn't have guessed that he'd do that in a million years. I know a different side of him, yes, but like I said before he has issues with the public knowing that side exists. Right now it's like he's doing things as if he's not acknowledging that he's a Malfoy, a Pureblood, a Slytherin, or the proud pompous bastard people think he is."

"You said he apologized. I guess this shows he was sincere," Ginny concluded.

"Oh God, Ginny, all I do is cause problems. That could've been the end of that but you can't expect me to just keep the whole Theo thing from him and run back into his arms like nothing happened? Who would've ever figured that I'd be the one slumming it with three different guys while Draco hasn't even fucked his "girlfriend" ever since I happened?"

"Ex."

"Besides the point, Gin," said Hermione, thoroughly exasperated at her own actions.

"I don't know, 'Mione. None of this is very like you. What made you casually invite Theo over for sex anyway?"

Hermione looked up at her. "He's sweet," she said, picking at invisible lint on her sweater.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I don't know, Gin. The only times he's ever talked to me were yesterday and Halloween. Both those times he was nothing but a sweet, honest, _intelligent_, and balanced guy. That's more that I could ever say for Draco," she said.

"Yet you already compared him to Draco."

Hermione slapped both her hands on her lap and took a deep breath. "I can't help it."

"I'm still having trouble believing you slept with _another _guy you barely know and it's not even the New Year yet," Ginny said, sipping at her own cup of tea.

"What's going on with me?"

"You're being the normal teenage girl, except you're squeezing it into a year's worth of time," said Ginny.

"Sleeping with a Professor is normal?" said Hermione, skeptically.

"Well, admittedly, it's the last thing I ever thought you'd do but, it's always the quiet ones, they say."

"I'm the last thing from quiet."

"Well, celibate, quiet, same thing."

"Oh, okay Ginny," said Hermione, cracking a smile.

"Oh shut up. Did you see Draco yet?"

"No."

"And are you telling him about this when you see him?"

"I don't see how I'm going to hide it."

"Good luck 'Mione."

"Thanks Gin," she said, looking up at her friend gratefully and finishing her tea. "I'm going to need it."

Hermione got up off Ginny's bed, set the mug down on her dresser and waved her good bye.

"Oh and Hermione?" called Ginny.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"Try to keep your pants on. That man is sexy when he's angry," Ginny said, smiling and received a stuffed animal to the face while Hermione slammed the door shut.

Ginny just burst into laughter, shook her head, and gathered both mugs to bring down to the kitchen.

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It really was an exceptionally sunny day and Hermione couldn't read or write in the common room of her dorm without a glare on her paper. So, she conceded with just sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket and soon dozed off.

She only woke up when the portrait hole slammed shut and Draco came in.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Draco shouted at her from across the room.

Hermione sat up and the blanket fell of her shoulders.

"What?" she said, trembling because she already figured out what had happened.

"Theo? Of all people another Slytherin Pureblood, just like me. And on top of that one I don't get along with?"

"How do you even know about that?"

"Oh Astoria found out, _somehow, _with her creepy little 5th year spies, and decided to just casually toy with him at breakfast till he snapped and almost hit her. So I take it, she was accurate in her accusations."

"And what business is that of yours, Draco?" Hermione asked, indignantly, standing up now to face him.

"What business is it of mine?" he yelled, the vein in his neck popping out and his perfect hair coming undone.

She swallowed hard.

"Hermione, for Merlin's sake, I don't know what we are but I think I at least deserve to find out these things in a different manner."

"Well, I didn't see you this morning," she yelled back.

"You weren't planning on telling me anyway," he shouted.

"I was!"

He took her by the shoulders and shook them.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, trying to escape from his grip.

"Why not? Theo can now but I can't? Cynric can too, huh?"

"Oh come of it, Draco. You're jealous over nothing."

"Over nothing? I'm in love with you for God's sake and you take me for a joke!" He said and immediately shrank back, wishing he could swallow his words as her eyes widened and she stopped taking normal breaths.

She opened her mouth once, twice and by the third sound came out.

"You what?" she said, eyes still wide and no other expression visible.

He swallowed and blinked back what seemed to be tears. He wasn't thinking when he shouted that and if anything this wasn't the reaction he wanted.

"I do, I guess, I mean I can't stop thinking of you and I can't, oh for Merlin's sake say something!" he shouted, nervously this time.

It took a moment, but her lips curved up at the side. Her fiery eyes were twinkling and he couldn't break the contact between them and his icy ones.

He was frozen.

She took a step towards him and placed a hand on his chest.

"You're crazy," she said, and gave him a light kiss on the lips. He smiled too, looking down at her.

She kissed him again. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

She gave him another kiss. "You shouldn't be saying things like that."

By this time, her smile had widened and he was looking down at her, his hands around her waist and hers clasped around his neck.

"But I'm in love with you, too," she said and with that he picked her up and swung her around. She began to laugh and kiss him on his lips, jaw, cheeks, forehead and neck.

He set her down a few moments later and kissed her, a long, passionate kiss. He didn't grope her this time, like all the other times. There was just as much passion, but it was different. He wanted to see her smile, laugh, and generally be happy. He wanted to know she was his and that she wasn't going anywhere. He wanted to know he'd wake up to this everyday and he'd have someone to argue with and make love to all the time. He didn't want anything more other than to kiss her till her lips were swollen.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he said, pressing his forehead against hers and they both laughed, still looking into each other's eyes.

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**A/N: Why am I so god damn cheesy. Sigh. Reviewsssssss **


	28. Plan Part One

**Finals weeks, yes two weeks, plural, are finally here. So, I'm guessing I won't be updating as quickly, probably more like once a week for the next two weeks unless I'm exploding and I can really only focus on writing… imagine that? I usually get so stressed I can't even sleep. But for now, enjoy So close to 30 chapters, yay personal first! **

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Pansy decided to leave Blaise and Draco both out of her plan. If this was going to work she didn't need Blaise jealous for nothing or Draco annoyed because she was putting her own neck on the line.

Why didn't the boy understand that she'd do anything for him like any good sister?

Monday, right after her Arithmancy class, she stayed behind a little longer than she usually did. She paid a little more attention to her hair and make up before class than usual and satisfied with the reflection in the mirror, she strode up to Professor Lucas Cynric herself.

"Professor," she said, in her little girl voice. She smiled on the inside, knowing her deception skills were mint.

Cynric's dirty blond head looked up at her and smiled gently. "Yes? What is it I could help you with?"

"Well, I was just wondering, I mean, not to be rude or prying or anything, it's just," she rambled, cracking another smile and the Professor pushed aside his paperwork to try to help the flustered girl.

"Yes dear?" he said, motioning for her to sit down at the desk nearest his.

She pulled out a paper from her brown leather satchel. "I was just wondering why this paper received a B?"

She knew very well why it received a B. She made it a B paper. But this was the only way she was going to form any sort of relationship with him, so be it.

They continued talking, she continued smiling and batting her eyelashes and he continued tracing her face with his eyes.

"Is there anyway I could do some extra credit?" she said, again batting her eyelashes a bit. "It's just that I rarely get anything other than an A and I don't want to ruin it all my last year…"

He cleared his throat. "You could come by my office and grade some papers, maybe I'll drop the lowest grade if you're lucky," he said, dropping a wink.

Pansy nearly jumped out of her seat in excitement. "Oh thank you, thank you so much. When can I come by?"

"Today after dinner would be splendid."

"I'll be here," she said, her eyes shining and her smile wide and innocent.

She grabbed her books and bit her lip, catching Professor Cynric's eye just before she left.

As the door shut behind her, she hugged her books and smiled.

She was in.

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On this particular Monday afternoon, all of Draco's work was done and he decided to stretch out on the couch in his common room, in front of the flickering flames of fire that left shadows dancing on the wall. He kicked his feet up and laid back, closing his eyes for a few minutes on the soft, green couch.

Someone giggled.

Draco cracked open an eye and groaned.

Hermione was standing over him, her robes and school bag tossed to the ground. He closed his eyes again.

But then her leg swung over his waist and she nimbly climbed on top of him in her Gryffindor skirt. He opened his eyes again and looked up into her smiling eyes. Chocolate curls swung before him as she leaned over his tired body.

"Do you enjoy killing me, woman?" he said from underneath her, his hands snaking up her thighs to her waist. The skin on skin contact had caused her to shudder and she desperately wanted his hands elsewhere.

"What if I do?" she smirked, running her hands through his hand and down his chest.

She loved when those platinum locks were out of place. She loved the flawless alabaster skin. She loved when those grey eyes turned steel, because her stomach always dropped, knowing what was coming next.

Then his hands trailed down her waist, cupping her ass, and caressing her thighs right where she had wanted them to go.

She licked her lips and swallowed, never breaking eye contact and he groaned lightly, at how her cheeks were already stained red.

"Is this what you thought about doing when you were in the library 10 minutes ago?" he said, his voice a little strained.

She only grinned slyly, her eyes taking on that cat like quality. "So what if I was?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow and he growled.

Draco sat upright and pressed _her _down onto the couch, watching Hermione's face as she enjoyed his evident lack of control. But when he grinding against her stomach, she moaned at just how much control he lacked and suddenly couldn't be close enough to him. She couldn't be touching enough, feeling enough of him.

They were both insatiable people, both equally as hormonal. Hermione was desperately working on his belt when he interrupted her to get rid of her sweater vest, then tore open her white blouse.

"Rude," she said, indignantly but he didn't stop.

Her hands went back to getting rid of his pants and just as she got the button open and was about to pull down the zipper, his mouth was on her chest and her hands fell away, gripped at the couch. His hand had found its way to her inner thigh and she couldn't help but jerk towards him. Determinedly she went back to unzipping his zipper and successfully got his pants of.

He got her skirt off.

She got his shirt off.

He got her stockings off.

She threw his tie somewhere.

He inched down her waist to her panties.

"Oh God, I don't have the patience," she whined, silently begging him to take her already.

"Then you're going to have to get some," he said, evilly smirking at her, skipping straight over her panties down to her thighs again.

She arched into him, her nails down his back, and he finally touched her where she really wanted it.

"You're soaking," he whispered, suddenly breathing harder than before.

"Mhm," she murmured, biting her lip and rolling her hips toward him.

He'd been holding out for a while, but even Draco didn't have the patience to tease Hermione endlessly. Yet.

"I'm soaking for you," she said, running a hand over his boxers watching him tremble.

"Draco, please," she whispered in his ear, dragging off his boxers.

His fingers attached themselves to her clit and she writhed against him, her head thrown back in ecstacy, panting and swallowing, praying he'd give her release.

But, that wasn't in Draco's plans. He let go and she grew limp in the couch, trying to catch her breath and she moaned in defeat, right as he pumped into her swiftly.

Her head flew back and she dug her nails into Draco's back, egging him on.

"Draco, Draco, fuck," she gasped, hips rolling to meet Draco's thrust, that kept speeding up.

"Look at me," he demanded, and she did.

She looked eyes with him, but felt her head slipping and her eyes shutting from the utopia going on inside her.

She was only seconds away from screaming and she knew it. He saw it and worked her clit faster, pounded into her harder, a sheen of sweat on both of their naked bodies now.

"Hermione, look at me," he managed, and her attention once more returned to his face.

The heat from his gaze let her explode, and her eyes shut tight while she screaming, grabbing onto Draco's body for dear life.

He kept pumping into her, coming almost instantaneously with her.

Draco collapsed on her chest. Both tried to catch their breath but the panting was still loud and fast.

With shaky hands, she brushed the sticky, wet hair from his forehead and he shut his eyes again, his eyelashes ticking her chest.

After a few moments he rubbed her arm and looked up at her. His grey eyes were softer, her amber eyes were calmer although they were both shaking.

"Draco," she whispered, swallowing and catching her breath. Her eyes said it all though, almost watering from everything she was trying to convey.

"I know," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

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**A/N: So thank you for all the reviews, and alerts and favorites, I love that you guys love this. Thanks for all the opinions, suggestions and just general feedback, I take it all into consideration. **

**Keep reviewing, it makes me smile. I really read them all and I can promise you I walk around smiling at my phone when I get the e-mail confirmation, because I'm a doofball.**

**But yep, they really do encourage me to write more, like someone actually cares so keep 'em coming! **


	29. Plan Part Two

**I'm so sorry it's been so long. Around 6 months to be exact. I'm horrible, I know. But school and life and friends and I don't know, everything got too complex. But hey, it's summer again and as soon as I have a break I always snap back to writing. So here you go, enjoy lovelies xx**

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Hermione noticed how this entire weekend after Halloween she and Draco had been completely locked in their tower with each other, only leaving for prefect duties.

"What happened to your fellow Slytherins?" she said, right before heading down to dinner.

"Hm?" he murmured, from his position laying across her stomach.

"For the past 72 hours," she started, then added, "or more, we've been cooped up together without any communication to the outside world."

"Hey that's not true. Those third years yesterday should've been Hufflepuffs, they don't even deserve to be Ravenclaws," he said, craning his neck to look up at her.

On their patrols, at around midnight, Draco and Hermione encountered a snogging couple who nearly came out of their own skin trying to apologize and ran away when Draco just gave them a warning.

"Oh will you stop with the House rivalry already," she said, her eyebrows furrowing together. "But," she said in a sing song voice, "letting them go with a warning was sweet."

"I must've been in a good mood," he grinned.

"I wonder why," she said, leaning over for a quick kiss.

"Okay before this becomes just like the rest of the weekend," she said, referring to the endless sweet kisses that ended up with them fucking on the coffeetable, "go visit your friends. Please."

"I'd rather be here," he started to argue, but she just cocked an eyebrow and he gave up.

"Fine, but I'm keeping you up late tonight," he announced, bouncing up to go get some fresh clothes before sauntering into the Slytherin dungeon.

"I'm okay with that," she said smiling and getting up herself to find some clothes other than the blanket they've been living under.

Her stomach grumbled and she quickly realized how malnourished she was for the amount of exercise she'd been getting recently.

Exercise.

..

..

..

Draco was waiting for Blaise in the Slytherin common room after dinner that night. Being around someone like Hermione made him want to make things okay with everyone. He guessed Ginny's motherly ways had rubbed off on his girl over the years since he'd never suspect her to put others so ahead of herself when all of her intellectual ways told her otherwise.

She was smart enough to realize it's a cutthroat world and that people are out there for themselves. But Draco loved her even _more _because of it. She fascinated him with her contradictions and with everything she did, really.

He was flung out of his thoughts when Pansy swept past him, made up and out of her usual school robes.

"Oh would you stop smiling at the air Draco. You were more attractive when brooding," she said, smiling herself.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Although, it seems to me that you still have quite a fan club," she added, cocking her head in the direction of some third years gaping at him from the fireplace. They looked as if they wanted his autograph and some sex simultaneously.

"Can't help it," he said, chuckling.

"There's that ego I love."

"Where are you headed?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her appearance.

"Oh library. Do tell Hermione to stop by Cynric's office around 8. And tell her to be precise about it."

Draco looked as if he were about to have an aneurism so she quickly added, "Relax, I have it aaaaaaall under control," in a sing song voice.

He rolled his eyes again but nodded. "Thanks, Pans."

She smiled, and flowed out of the room.

..

..

..

After filling up her rumbling stomach with some roasted turkey that night, an oddly familiar owl dropped off a letter while she was walking up the steps to the Gryffindor common room at around 7:30 with Ginny.

"Ooh la la, secret messenger," teased Ginny.

"Oh hush up," replied Hermione but she smiled widely when she found it was sealed with a red and green heart. Figures Draco would have to be half Slytherin.

As she tore it open, her smile faltered for a second but she remembered it was Draco asking her to do this, meaning he had something under his sleeve.

"What happened?" asked Ginny as they were climbing through the portrait hole.

"Come upstairs," was the reply and Hermione was grabbing Gin to her dormitory already.

Luckily until curfew most people wouldn't be caught dead up in the dorms since the opposite sex isn't allowed in there. Everyone tended to, instead, hang around the common room, the halls and alcoves, empty classrooms or the Great Hall. That left Ginny and Hermione alone in the dorm, but Hermione cast a silencing charm anyway.

"Draco just asked me to make sure I'm at Cynric's office at 8 sharp tonight," she said.

Ginny's eyes widened slightly and she said, "You don't think he's going to confront him or something?"

Hermione actually breathed a sigh of relief. "He's a Slytherin. Doing something that straightforward is such a Harry thing to do."

Ginny smiled weakly, thinking of her boyfriend away at training.

Hermione noticed how her eyes seemed to go to a faraway place. "Hey, girl, it's only a few more weeks till Christmas is here. It's finally November and then he'll be here, safe and sound, I promise."

"I know, it just hurts to have him, then have him ripped away."

"Well, a little birdie told me he likes to visit you at night sometimes," said Hermione, her lips curving up into a sly smile remembering the conversation she had with Harry in the kitchen.

Ginny's face turned a bright red as her mind seemed to take her elsewhere and Hermione laughed.

"Now I have something to tease you about," she said.

"Oh stop. More importantly, what does Draco have in mind with this plan?"

"I honestly don't have a single clue," was the reply.

..

..

..

Pansy Parkinson walked with a deliberate step into Cynrics classroom and then knocked on his office at precisely 7 o'clock.

"Come in," said a voice on the inside.

Lucas Cynric really was good looking. She couldn't even blame Hermione for this life choice, knowing full well what that girl must've dealt with due to Draco's stubborn being.

"Good evening, Professor," she cooed, smiling softly.

She had switched into a dark green sweater dress that reached her milky mid thigh and hugged every curve on her slight body and set off her dark brown bobbed hair perfectly. Blaise would've been raving mad if he knew she was alone in a room with some man with this much leg exposed. But she reminded herself it was all pretend and how much explaining Draco would be doing.

"Professor makes me sound old. It's just Cynric to you," he said, smiling back.

And so it began.

After a lifetime of manipulation, Pansy was aware of the effect of every sharp gaze, blush, smile, hand brush and leg cross of hers on other people. She employed her body tonight with a singular goal and was rolling full steam ahead in her scheme.

It was only three quarters of the hour later when all the work had been graded and the slow conversation over tea morphed into a rather close conversation. Pansy was practically in Cynric's lap and his arm was draped around the couch and her.

"I don't know what's been going through his head recently, but he hasn't talked to me about anything of importance in over a week and I… I just don't know what to do," she whined, looking up at Cynric with wide, shining brown eyes.

"Well that's just teenage relationships, my dear. They can drive you insane," he replied, his gaze locked with hers.

"I've been feeling pretty insane recently," she replied, her voice deliberately but nonchalantly dropping to nothing more than a whisper.

"A little insanity is always good for you," replied Cynric, whispering as well, right into her ear.

Pansy's breath hitched at his breath on her neck and she noticed his hand placed on her thigh. The man revolted her but quickly glancing down at her clock she noticed it was only 5 minutes to 8. She only needed to hold out for 5 more minutes.

"How can it be good?" she whispered right back, leaning more into him and he immediately kissed her neck, put his arms around her and lifted her onto his lap.

Pansy gave in but was hardly reacting back, just letting the man do what he wanted without doing much back. He hands were racing from her thighs, to cupping her ass and up the small of her back pushing her forward on his lap. Her own arms snaked around his neck and she ran her arms through his hair and his kisses traced down to her chest.

_If he leaves a hickey, Draco is dead. _

Pansy remembered to moan aloud and encourage the man further. Right before his hands could find themselves under her panties, the door opened and a bright faced Hermione stood there.

Her face dropped in seconds when she saw how high up Pansy's dress was hitched, both her thighs around the Professor's waist and where his own lips were. Hermione caught Pansy's eyes and just swallowed.

Promptly, Pansy shot right up off the Professor and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What's _she _doing here?" she spat out at him.

"S-She just helps me grade papers, just like you," he answered and immediately realized the error of his words.

"Just like me? Oh and it's 8 o'clock on the dot. What? Do you have girls lined up on the hour?" she said back, in a deathly cold tone.

Hermione's eyes just widened at the scene in front of her and she couldn't do anything but stare.

"No it's not like that, I just-"

"So you mean to tell me she's never been bedded by you?" Pansy shot back, this time looking at Hermione with her wild eyes instead of intimidating the Professor.

"Well have you?"

Hermione just looked at her, then at Cynric and then at the floor.

"I'll take that as a yes then," said Pansy, in a more composed manner. "I guess I won't be seeing you again."

As she headed towards the door, she grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged the girl along with her. "And neither will she. Don't make me warn other girls and do yourself the favor of being _just _a Professor for the rest of the year. If you even last that long as a teacher here," were her last words before slamming the door shut.

She stalked a good distance still holding Hermione's arm before ending up in an alcove by the Great Hall, almost at the other end of the school.

Pansy then turned to Hermione and smiled. "I'm Pansy. I know we never officially met and I'm sorry it had to be like this, but ever since Draco told me I've been wanting to meet you. And here you finally are," the girl said, in a voice so sincere Hermione was sure she was dreaming.

But then Hermione smiled back at her and shook her head slightly. "This was Draco's idea?"

"No, Draco doesn't have the brains for this. Well, actually normally he would but his head's too wrapped up with you to think straight. I did the brain work on this one," replied a very giddy Pansy.

"Thank you," were the only words Hermione could muster and Pansy just laughed at her stunned companion.

"It's nothing. I've never seen the boy so happy so naturally I assumed he was in love. I mean, I know what it feels like and I've seen the changed first hand in Blaise so I bothered him till he gave you up. And I'm glad he came to me because, well, can you imagine him handling this situation?"

Hermione had imagined it, that was actually the first thing that popped in her head when she received the owl earlier that day and it really wasn't a pleasant scene. Draco was a man of passion and this particular passion would've been a bloody mess.

"Again, thank you. I think Draco's plan would've been much bloodier."

"Exactly, at least he came to me," replied Pansy.

..

..

..

**Remember, review for faster updates. Let me know what you love and what you hate and what you want to see. Thanks for all the patience if you have stuck by since the beginning of the story, I love you all **


	30. Figuring It Out

**Dear readers: I know this story has been long out of commission, around a year and a half to be exact, but signing into my old email I found that lots of you still read, review, favorite and alert this story. I was always surprised with how far I got, so I'd like to take this time to finish the story. I've taken the time to re-read it completely last night, and began to continue this little mushfest. Let me know what you guys think, what you'd love to see, what you have, comments and criticisms are welcome. Enjoy! **

"Shut the fuck up!" were really the only words coming out of Ginny's mouth this morning.

"Merlin Gin, can you relax," Hermione hushed her, looking around the Gryffindor Common Room with widened eyes trying to hide the smile growing on her face.

Draco had pointed out to her that she, in fact, had not seen much of her friends _either_ and practically forced her out of his bed to go visit them. Them being Ginny. Ever since 'Mione's face popped up in the Common Room portrait hole Gin was already clinging onto her and they'd both settled by the fireplace with hot chocolates in hand.

"I'm sorry 'Mione but PANSY? This is all so eerie and alternate universe-like, I need a moment."

"You need to stop screaming," was Hermione's response, yet she couldn't help smiling at her best friends' incredulous reactions. Ever since the two sat down in front of the fireplace, the brilliant witch had been recounting on how Draco, well Pansy, handled Cynric and everything from that point forward. Which had really just turned out to be an entire week in bed.

"It's not that crazy, you'd do the same for me, right? And so would Harry, you get the picture."

"Okay, okay fine, I accept that as an argument. But then Hermione Granger skipped a whole week of school… to stay in bed… with Draco Malfoy." And just like that Gin was back to laughing, for she was constantly being struck in the face with more and more craziness.

Hermione just sighed with a smile perched on her face and looked into the fireplace.

"But pause, 'Mione. Now Draco's single. Cynric's out of the picture. Nott was already discussed. I know. Pansy and I assume Blaise know. What's next?"

That was the mouthful Hermione was wishing Ginny wouldn't bring up. What was next? All this time she was so focused on blaming everything on Draco in her head. He had the girlfriend. He had the pride. He had the traditional pompous pureblood family. He had the evil friends.

But now she was terrified of telling Harry and Ron.

She had come to the conclusion that telling his parents and her parents were a whole different obstacle altogether, one to face after they both deal with their friends. Draco had already dealt with his and the so called cold hearted Slytherins had nothing to say, besides sending their blessing, wishing him and Hermione their best, not to mention solving one of her biggest problems.

She knew that all the Slytherins and Pureblood members of today's society wanted was some sort of redemption and forgiveness from the rest of the wizarding world. They were the last to fight any love, feelings, relationships, kind acts, turning into quite the opposite of what they were always known for.

Hermione had begun to slowly understand that people are people. Everyone wants money, power and success, but the world offered you nothing if you had the golden trio without love, family and friends. Most of the wizarding world, it turns out, was not evil and had only been so malicious and dark because of the threat of the Dark Lord himself and the inability to save their lives using their own magic, which was notably weaker than their own. The reason their dark magic was so weak was because the darker necessary to use it did not exist within their souls, and the only tasks they did were the ones the Dark Lord knew they could conjure from sheer desperation - desperation to survive.

This became increasingly clear when Hermione realized Draco's mom had sent him care packages to the window of his room every Sunday morning, including magical chocolates and a weekly moving picture of Draco's miniature pet dragon. Arguably, the thing was adorable when it wasn't spouting fire out of its throat.

With just that single act, Narcissa was redeemed in Hermione's eyes. She realized that the woman loved her son, her grown son, just like any mother does. She spent time and effort on him, money was never an obstacle, and she longed for him to have the utmost success and be surrounded by the very best even in the darkest of times.

These care packages were just the same as the one's Hermione's parents would send her, with various pick me ups in the form of food (always chocolate) and a multitude of pictures to keep her updated on their house, her room, family events and everything she was missing back at home.

The similarity of their parents had struck her deep in her chest and got her mind wracking for an answer on how to let go of the fact she believed in the evil of young adults for so long, without a second glance. Slytherins were only trying their best to honor their parents, their families, and their traditions. She guessed it was hard to think for yourself, and grow into your own opinions and morals when being sorted into a House in which everyone else supports everything your parents always said.

Hermione realized that she had the kind of personality to be able to shy from her parents views and opinions, and have her own. Yet, she was still a hard working bookworm to the outside world, with a fierce passion for everything she did, just the way her parents raised her. She, however, wasn't in the least bit religious unlike her parents, believed she could choose whatever career she wanted from the day she first entered middle school rather than follow the doctor dream her parents wanted for her.

Her mind was on fire, thinking and thinking, from the very moment she left Draco's side and even now, as she finished filling in Ginny she was barely listening to her best friend's advice. Thoughts were rapidly clouding her brain and she realized all she could do was spill the truth (well, let's not mention Cynric to anyone else) and hope for the best.

If there was one thing she could count of from Harry and Ron, it was love and support for her happiness, even if it took some time and convincing.

Ginny had long realized she was babbling on advice to a Hermione whose mind was lost in her own thoughts as she continuously stared at the fire without a single reaction to her words, and she just smiled and gave up.

"Come on," she said, standing up and pulling Hermione along with her. "You need a drink."


	31. Night Off

**My dear readers: Sorry for the delay, yet again, but this story is coming to a close. Finally, all the loose ends will be tied together and all will be revealed. Stick around to find out what happens! And remember, reviews are always, always welcome **

Again Hermione found herself, dolled up, in the basement of Ginny's older brothers' store, with drinks being pressed into her hands by her beaming best friend. Macy, Ginny and Isobel were all sitting in a booth together with 'Mione, drinking and laughing as their new little ritual called for.

Ginny noticed 'Mione had been nursing her Firewhiskey for a while and was promptly handing her a shot, staring at her with her usual wide grin that exposed her glistening white teeth till she took it. Hermione's lips pulled into a smile as she shook her head lightly as her best friend and tilted back the shot. As it scorched her throat, she merely focused on the alcohol, because she knew that was what Ginny truly wanted her to do. She knew Ginny's sole goals of the night were to have Hermione drunk and laughing, free from any thought of Draco, Harry and Ron's reactions, their parents, and any other obstacles in the way.

"I'll be right back Gin, those shots were a good idea," she said, winking slightly and walking towards the bar in her cognac chunky heeled leather ankle boots. Ginny had, as usual, tried to slip her into another tight black dress, but tonight Hermione had opted to wear a sleeveless chiffon red shift dress, that hung loosely on her tiny body but was dangerously short, exposing her long, toned legs. She had Isobel pile her curls on top of her head in a creative, yet messy bun, leaving a few loose tendrils to frame her face. Isobel, it turned out, had quite a way with her wand when it came to hair and make up, and had the four of them ready in no time. She either took requests for the look the girls wanted that night, or surprised them with her own interpretation on what looked best. Hermione wasn't usually picky so Isobel opted to leave her shoulders bare tonight, without Hermione's voluminous mane weighing them down, and did up her face with the most minimal amount of make up – just some blush to add color to her cheeks, some bronzer for toning, a mysterious mixture of eye shadow leaving Hermione's eyes the most gleaming, warm shade of hazel paired with a liberal amount of mascara. Isobel's minimal efforts left Hermione glowing and sexier than anyone in the room, as it usually was on a daily basis to begin with.

Ginny watched her best friend sit down at the bar and lean forward to order a drink, and happily turned the other direction to face Macy when a platinum blonde head caught her eye. Draco's entrance to the Weasley's bar elicited a swift eye roll and sigh from Ginny, as she realized her efforts to offer Hermione a relaxing night just flew out the window and everything would be worked out by the end of the night – for better or worse. With a small gasp of shock she noticed Harry and Ron arrive right after him, but they didn't notice the blonde as he was already crossing the room towards his girl in a bright red dress.

Harry happily greeted his girlfriend with a long smooch as Ron stood behind them both, pretending to swat Harry upside the head as Macy and Isobel laughed. Ginny quickly sat both of the boys across from her, so that Hermione was in her line of sight, but directly behind both of them. George quickly found his siblings and came bearing a tray of shots, on the house as usual. Within 5 minutes, the boys were all occupied with their drinks and conversations with the girls, too busy to notice Hermione was missing and to wonder where she was.

Hermione, across the bar, was unaware that a certain someone she wasn't supposed to see tonight was walking her way. She downed her fourth shot and just finished ordering a Firewhiskey to nurse by herself, at the bar, when a familiar hand rested on the small of her back and a scent that made her back straighten immediately engulfed her.

"I couldn't stay away from you," Draco whispered in her ear and she immediately turned around to cup his face.

"How'd you find me?" she breathed, more or less properly intoxicated from her drinks.

"Pansy somehow knew. All of you girls have some sort of 6th sense I don't understand," he answered, grinning from ear to ear while his warm, blue eyed bore into her glowing, hazel ones.

Immediately Hermione understood that Draco's best friend had found it in his best interests to handle the situation at hand right away, and this was her way of giving Hermione her blessing once and for all. Glancing past Draco for a second, she caught Ginny's eyes and also saw Harry and Ron sitting at the same booth. Everything seemed to stop and her world was in slow motion.

She knew very well that this meant Draco was ready to take on her friends as well, since he had voluntarily stepped into the lion's den taking one step more than she had. The last few drinks still burning her throat and her mind, she got lost in the blue eyes that seemed to be melting into her brown ones.

Then the bar seemed a lot quieter.


End file.
